Switched On
by Sparf
Summary: Dark Kat has developed a weapon that will shake Megakat City to its very foundations. Only the SWAT Kats, with help from a new kid on the block, have a prayer of stopping him, but when Razor is injured, T-Bone must put his faith in Switch.


Disclaimer: SWAT Kats are copyright Hanna-Barbera. Switch is copyright myself and SelfDefiance.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Come on Sureshot!" T-Bone yelled as the Turbokat banked a wide turn around the giant rampaging plant, "You've gotta have something that'll cut that thing down to size!"  
  
"Aw give me a break! I've hit it with buzz saw missiles, octopus missiles, heat seekers, diamond-tipped crusher missiles, and even the cement cannon! Nothing even makes a dent!" came Razor's dumbfounded reply from the jet's rear seat.  
  
T-Bone growled fiercely as he dodged a few more of the plant- creature's squirming tendrils. The monster was fueled by one of Dr. Viper's stolen chemicals, as usual, and T-Bone had long since stopped caring or keeping track of which chemicals the mutant scientist stole from month to month. Katalyst 51, 49, 82, 74, hut hut! It didn't matter what number, all that mattered right now to T-Bone was A. Keeping himself, the Turbokat, and Razor in one piece, and B. Using Viper's giant Venus flytrap as compost for his vegetable garden. His thoughts, however, were sharply interrupted as a slimy green mass suddenly obscured his view. Another of the plant's octopus- like tentacles had whipped out of nowhere and snared the Turbokat mid-sky.  
  
"Crud," T-Bone hissed as he shoved the throttle control to maximum, trying to wrench his beloved jet free. The thrusters flared and screamed, but the plant-creature's grip did not falter. "We're stuck, Razor! We're gonna have to bail out!" That hurt. It meant leaving his baby in the clutches of the monster salad. Unfortunately, before the vigilantes could eject, the plant slid one of its arms around the canopy, sealing the SWAT Kats inside.  
  
The SWAT Kats could feel the creature begin to squeeze, and T-Bone heard the Turbokat begin to buckle under the strain. A loud, grinding pop told him that the right wing intake manifold had just crumpled. A sharp squeal indicated that the plant had stuck its tendril into the uncovered jet intake and damaged the engine.  
  
"I hope you felt that," thought T-Bone bitterly.  
  
"Buddy, I think we're in serious trouble," Razor stated glumly, "I just tried opening the bomb bays to try and get us another way out, but that plant has us wrapped up like a burrito. We're stuck."  
  
At that exact moment, a strong vibration shook the Turbokat. Peering out from the canopy between the flytrap's tendrils, the SWAT Kats could see, of all things, a pair of Enforcer choppers and several Enforcer 'Peacekeeper' tanks all opening fire on the arms that held the Turbokat prisoner.  
  
"No way," Razor gasped, "It's gotta be Felina."  
  
"Lieutenant Feral," T-Bone questioned into the radio, "Is that you?"  
  
If T-Bone and Razor were weak of heart, the voice that replied would have given them both one way tickets to the great litter box in the sky. "Not quite, SWAT Kats," the deep, growling voice of the Enforcer Commander replied.  
  
"Commander Feral" exclaimed T-Bone, in a sure state of shock.  
  
"Don't sound so surprised, hot-shot. I'm not about to let one of Viper's creations kill you before I get the chance to put you two on trial for something," growled Commander Feral.  
  
"Good old Feral. I wonder which is worse, him or the plant," T-Bone remarked dryly to himself.  
  
"We may not get the chance to find out, T-Bone. Look!"  
  
What T-Bone saw made his fur stand on end. A pair of new tentacles sprouted from the body of the creature and pierced the Enforcer helicopters, causing them to ignite in balls of flame. The creature then proceeded to crush the tanks underfoot. It was not about to be stopped, and if the SWAT Kats couldn't do it, then the Enforcers surely were no match for it.  
  
"Razor.Jake.It's been a pleasure flying with you," T-Bone whispered, lowering his head.  
  
"Same here, Chance. Same here."  
  
Fate is a twisted creature. Just as the vigilantes had abandoned all hope, another vibration shook the Turbokat. This time, T-Bone felt the jet falling free. "Yes," he yelled out of sheer gratitude not to be part of a natural history museum exhibit anymore. Upon trying the throttle, he quickly discovered that the engines, under the strain, had been damaged. He wasn't going to be able to stop the Turbokat's backwards descent. A sharp jerk later, however, and the Turbokat was rising slowly into the air. It was attached by tow cables to another jet, which, judging by its configuration was either another vigilante, or another supervillian.  
  
The mystery jet lowered the Turbokat onto a nearby rooftop, and then broke into a full-throttle attack run towards the huge, lumbering Venus flytrap.  
  
"Hey," Yelled T-Bone over the communications frequency, "Get away from that thing, it's too dangerous!" He sounded like one of the myriad Enforcers who consistently believed that the SWAT Kats were somehow less capable than they were to handle giant monsters and supervillians. Sometimes, though, the old blood still flowed, and he still felt like an Enforcer.  
  
The mystery pilot's jet looked a bit large for a one-seater. It was slightly larger than the Turbokat, dark grey in color, with three red slash marks painted just behind the canopy in bright red. It banked hard around the flytrap and fired a pair of missiles.  
  
"Incendiaries," T-Bone realized as the projectiles hit the plant's moist flesh and bright blue and orange flames shot across its surface. Razor and T-Bone had once themselves carried a few incendiary missiles, but Razor had worried that if a missile malfunctioned, or if a shot missed or was deflected, that it could do serious damage to the city or worse still, harm or kill civilians, so they developed the safer 'match head' missile. Their mysterious savior, however, did not seem to share those particular concerns.  
  
The plant, unfortunately, was not concerned either. It let out an ear- shattering scream, but more out of rage than out of actual pain. Another, larger tentacle extended itself from the plant and smacked the attacking jet fighter out of the sky and sent it tumbling earthward.  
  
"Aw....crud," whispered T-Bone. "I tried to warn him, Razor."  
  
"T-Bone........look...."  
  
T-Bone looked down towards the street below, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The jet had righted itself into a hover. That was one amazing pilot. Anyone else, maybe even T-Bone himself, would have been street pizza or worse. But the real surprise was yet to come. As Razor and T-Bone looked on, two of the craft's three rear jets extended themselves backwards, and then flipped down, forming legs!  
  
"What the heck is that thing," Razor questioned. He had never before in his life seen a jet like this. He had once considered trying to design one, but after a few preliminary drawings, he found that even his skills weren't sufficient to get the engineering exact enough to make such a machine work. And now, here his idea was, standing before him, so to speak. He could only watch through the Plexiglas canopy with absolute utter amazement at the fluid movement of the transformer jet. Thinking quickly, though, he pulled his camera from its storage compartment on his seat and began taking photos using the telephoto zoom lens. He wanted to study that plane, which had now not only sprouted legs, but also a pair of arms bristling with weaponry.  
  
The transformed jet immediately opened fire on the gigantic Venus flytrap with a pair of miniguns, peppering its green surface with hundreds of holes. The creature screamed again, this time in immense pain, as a pinkish fluid oozed from the holes. One further volley of missiles flew from the transformer, slamming into the monstrous stalk. On impact, a red, gel-like fluid burst from the missile warheads, and the plant let out a bloodcurdling scream.  
  
"Whoa," came the hushed response from both T-Bone and Razor.  
  
"Weedkiller missiles," chuckled Razor, "Now why didn't I think of those."  
  
T-Bone grinned. "Maybe this guy's gunning for your job?"  
  
"Ha...ha....ha. Very funny," Razor snapped.  
  
The plant had begun to turn a dark, fetid shade of brown, finally breaking into a black dust that was easily caught in the wind and dispersed.  
  
"That was awesome," Razor exclaimed.  
  
"Unidentified Pilot, come in," called T-Bone on all non-Enforcer comm- channels. He wanted to meet the pilot almost as much as he wanted to get a look at his plane.  
  
"You called," chimed a female voice over the radio. "Unidentified Pilot here."  
  
T-Bone's jaw hit the floor.  
  
"Uh.....hey.....Would you mind coming down here? I'd really like to take a look at that jet of yours."  
  
Laughter echoed through the radio channel. "Sure, anything for the SWAT Kats. By the way, you can call me Switch."  
  
"Switch, huh? She sounds kind of cute," Razor chuckled. "She's gotta be more friendly than Turmoil." Razor loved needling T-Bone about his past luck with relationships. T-Bone on the other hand, did not often fully appreciate the humor.  
  
"Yeah, she's probably a little more down-to-earth than Queen Callista was," was T-Bone's growled reply. Touché. "Now if you don't want me to fatten your lip don't bring up Turmoil again."  
  
Razor just grinned. He was such an evil kat sometimes, it was truly amusing.  
  
In silence, the pair climbed down the ladder from the Turbokat cockpit and waited for Switch to come in for a landing. "Besides," T-Bone continued, "being that great a pilot, she can't be very good looking. It's a rule of thumb. The only exception I ever saw was Lieutenant Feral at the Enforcers Annual Ball." There was an interesting statement. Surprisingly enough, Commander Feral had allowed the two former Enforcers to attend the ball, and in uniform. T-Bone suspected that it had something to do with Callie Briggs, though, because he had gone out of his way to avoid speaking to them that evening. Just as well, thought T-Bone.  
  
"Yeah, she almost looked better than Callie that night. Almost." That last part was added with a wink. Calico Briggs was known to be high on Razor's crush list, but of course there wasn't much he could do about that without revealing the identities of the SWAT Kats, and thus making Callie a target for kidnapping, hostage taking, etc.  
  
The vigilante pair was interrupted as Switch's jet whined overhead and set down vertiCallie on the rooftop across from the Turbokat. T-Bone watched as the cockpit opened and the ladder lowered from the other side. Coming down the ladder, however, he spotted the most gorgeous tail and pair of legs he had ever seen. His eyes widened as Switch stepped from behind her plane. His mouth hung open slightly. She was dressed in a tight-fitting black jumpsuit, with the same red slash marks from her cockpit adorning her sides. She wore a mask that covered merely the area around her eyes. Her long, blond hair framed her face wonderfully.  
  
"You really ought to shut that before you let the bugs in," Switch chuckled. T-bone nearly melted when she spoke and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.  
  
Okay Chance, ok....pretty girl....just saved your bacon....think of something good to say.  
  
"Nice machine you got there, hot-shot."  
  
No! No you idiot! That's the dumbest thing you've ever said, and I've been here for all of them! Quick, say something else! Anything! Move the conversation along!  
  
"I'm T-Bone, and this is my partner, Razor."  
  
T-Bone's self confidence had decided to go take a coffee break behind a large rock in his subconscious mind, and so he had become thoughtless putty in the hands of an extremely beautiful and extremely formidable she- kat.  
  
Fortunately for him, Switch was as dumbfounded at this meeting as he was. The SWAT Kats had been her personal heroes for some time. Their exploits on the news and what she had seen firsthand were nothing compared to living it, to flying beside them...not to mention actually rescuing them. Yes, Switch, a rank rookie in actual combat situations had saved the mighty SWAT Kats from certain doom. It was a tremendous ego boost, and the only thing that was allowing her to keep from melting right on the pavement. Not only was T-Bone the most awesome pilot on the planet, he was also absolutely gorgeous.  
  
"Well, I'm Switch. I think you already knew that, though. Um...So did you build your jet yourselves?" D'oh! Her mind screamed. You're an idiot. I knew that the blond hair would be a problem, now it's causing your mouth to say stupid things. I'm the brains of this outfit, it screamed, you will listen to me. Compliment them on the color scheme. Yes. Do that. It'll go over well.  
  
"I really love the coloring. It's like...one of those really cool windbreaker jackets you see on sale sometimes." You, my lady, her mind proceeded to tell her, are an imbecile. Do these gentlemen look like they shop for clothes?  
  
"Uh...yeah...we built it," T-Bone replied, ignoring out of sheer hypnosis the comment on the coloring, "Actually Razor here did most of the real work."  
  
"Well then, Razor, you're one hell of a mechanic and engineer."  
  
"Aw, it isn't much, really," Razor replied, blushing a bit, "But I absolutely love your jet. Did you build it yourself?"  
  
"Well," Switch said, "Not exactly. I had a lot of help on the Wildkat."  
  
"Still, a jet that can sprout legs and walk around....that's just so Sci-Fi. Like one of those animated Kat-toons," said T-Bone. Oh yes, his mind had long since ceased to make dignified remarks a possibility. Fortunately...or unfortunately, Feral's choppers chose that moment to rise over the rooftops a few buildings away.  
  
"Well, that's my cue to skiddoo," Switch said, running for the ladder on the Wildkat. She tossed a wink at T-Bone as she closed the cockpit canopy. "See ya around, Skywise," she said with a wink as the canopy sealed and her engines roared to life, lifting the Wildkat vertiCallie into the air before sending it speeding off through the crowded metropolis and out of sight.  
  
"We'd better go too, buddy. I don't want to be around for Feral's investigation of the mutant salad bar," said Razor.  
  
The SWAT Kats climbed back aboard the Turbokat and rose into the air, limping the damaged jet back to the salvage yard hangar they called home. Thankfully the engines still had enough thrust to keep them airborne.  
  
Back at the hangar, T-Bone sat on one of the beaten-up pieces of furniture and stared at the floor, smiling slightly. That Switch was unbelievable. And it seemed like she liked him. So he just sat on the tattered sofa, thinking of how and when he could see her again. Razor, on the other hand, was hunched over a computer screen. He was actually being productive, and with wonderful results.  
  
"Here we go, buddy! Check this out!" Razor exclaimed, transferring the image over to the large monitor in the center of the recreation area. "Recognize this?"  
  
On the screen was a digitally enhanced image of a part of Switch's jet. T-Bone's jaw hit the floor for the umpteenth time that day. There was a logo etched into a piece of paneling near the engine intakes. "Pumadyne Labs?!" He shouted. Pumadyne was responsible for almost every single weapons research fiasco in the history of Megakat city. Most of which involved the Metallikats.  
  
"So....she's got an insider at Pumadyne helping her with weapons and design," he asked Razor.  
  
"Looks like it. But at least she's on our side. And cute, too, eh lover boy?"  
  
"Hey, shut up, Razor. She's just a really great pilot."  
  
"Yeah," the smaller kat laughed, "With really great curves."  
  
T-Bone just sneered. Razor loved tormenting him about his relationships. It wasn't serious, but one day, T-Bone would get his revenge, and show pictures he'd gotten from Jake's parents to Jake's girlfriend. That would be payback, you'd better believe it.  
  
_____________  
  
Switch didn't pay attention to very much as she piloted the Wildkat back to base. All she could think about was T-Bone. She hadn't expected him to be so....good looking in person. That mask just added to his flair. She'd always dreamed of meeting the famous SWAT Kats in person, and her new vigilante lifestyle had already afforded her the chance. Maybe she could get T-Bone to show her some urban piloting techniques sometime. Yeah, along with some others, her mind said wryly. She slapped her inner voice, hard, with lead-loaded boxing gloves.  
  
She reached her destination, an old, dilapidated farm just outside the city limits. She began to lower the jet vertiCallie down as a piece of the ground in front of the barn slid away, allowing her access to the hangar. Her uncle Tobias was full of surprises, especially for a man his age. He had been a colleague of Professor Hackle before the professor had moved to his island to be away from weapons research. When Lyonia had decided that she wanted to be a vigilante like the SWAT Kats, he supported her, though he was a bit overprotective at times.  
  
As she slid down the ladder from the cockpit and the false ground slid into place above, Lyonia was greeted to the raspy voice of an old kat. "Well well, young lady, I see it didn't take long for you to make the news. Commander Feral is in a foaming frenzy to find out who you are and make sure you don't 'endanger Megakat City'." the old man chuckled and reached out to hug his niece. "As if you could endanger anyone."  
  
Lyonia hugged the shorter old kat tightly, with a chuckle. "Uncle Tobias, you're the greatest!"  
  
"Yes, yes, my dear. I know!" he laughed, returning his niece's embrace. "I see that you managed to take good care of the Wildkat. My VR Training program seems to be effective."  
  
"Uh...yeah. Really!" she replied, forcing a smile. The truth was, she barely ever sat through Uncle Tobias's VR simulations. They were just....too boring for her. She spent more of the time playing SkyKats IV. It was a bit more action packed, and a hell of a lot more fun. But of course, she didn't want to tell that to Uncle Tobias. Besides, the wry grin and sparkle in his eye told her that he had a good idea that she didn't use his VR simulator. "So, did you get your tractor fixed," Lyonia asked, quickly changing the subject.  
  
The old man sighed. "No, dear. I'm afraid it needs several parts which were discontinued years ago. I'll have to visit the swap meets around the city to see if I can get replacements." That was one thing that always eluded Lyonia. She was no mechanic. It wasn't that she didn't try. She had tried to learn to work on engines several times when she was younger, but she just didn't have the talent for it. Anything she touched fell apart or exploded or just ceased to operate.  
  
The two kats talked for a while longer as they made their way to the elevator, which brought them directly into the basement of Uncle Tobias's old farmhouse. The musty smell gave the place a sort of homey feel, if such a thing were possible in a moldy basement. But neither Lyonia nor Tobias lingered long in the cellar. They passed the door to the canned foods closet, as Lyonia liked to think of it, and climbed a rickety set of wooden stairs into the house's kitchen.  
  
"I made your favorite," said Uncle Tobias, smiling and pointing to the stove, where sat a freshly baked pan of Hillsberry cinnamon roll pastries.  
  
Lyonia dove for the pan and devoured two of the rolls before anyone would have been able to say 'jackrabbit'. If there was anything on the entire planet she loved more than flying the Wildkat it was Hillsberry brand cinnamon pastries. Uncle Tobias smiled and walked into the den where he sat softly down in his easy chair. Lyonia in the meantime was about to finish off the last pastry. Being a vigilante had made her very hungry. Or maybe it was the dizzy feeling she'd gotten from being close to T-Bone. But she couldn't waste time thinking about that now, or she'd never get any rest, and if she didn't rest she wouldn't get to make her shopping trip tomorrow before she went to work.  
  
But....sure enough, as she lay down on the soft feather mattress, she was wide awake. She had a tan-furred tomcat on her mind. One who was gorgeous beyond belief, and who was the best pilot in Megakat City. And a tan-furred tomcat who, she was almost certain, liked her.  
  
____  
  
"Assault. Resisting Arrest. Forgery. It seems," said the deep, rumbling voice of the massive judge, "that you have no respect for the laws and ordinances of Megakat City."  
  
The defendant lowered his head. He dared not try to explain to this judge that his crimes were aimed at protecting his family. He, in fact, scarcely dared look up from the floor. There was something unnerving about Judge Alexander Mephistos. His reputation for absolute adherence to the letter of the law was well known and made most defendants who entered his courtroom even more nervous than the judge himself did.  
  
The presiding judge was a tall, powerfully built man. His fur was brown with grey streaks caused by age and stress, and his gaze was enough to make even the hardiest Enforcer look away. He stared down at the defendant with his piercing black eyes, showing no compassion or pity for the accused before him. "Have you anything to say in your defense?"  
  
The defendant simply continued his examination of the floor tiles.  
  
"Very well, then. I hereby sentence you to the maximum of fifteen years at hard labor in Megakat Maximum Security Penitentiary"  
  
The bailiff led him from the courtroom. All he wished at that moment was that that judge would die of a horrible disease while he himself rotted away in prison. Maybe that wish would come true.  
  
And pigs fly.  
  
Back in the courtroom, Judge Mephistos registered a small, almost imperceptible smile before he turned to the court recorder. "Would you please get me Professor Hackle on the phone. I am going to the records office, I want him on hold for me when I return." ___  
  
Jake Clawson hung up the phone at the salvage yard, copying a scribbled note from a napkin to its proper form on a clipboard. "Hey Chance, we got a tow call"  
  
Chance didn't respond. He just sat, the corners of his mouth drawn up in a soft sort of grin. It was quite obvious that he still had his mind on Switch. "Chance!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah buddy, where's the call?"  
  
"Glad to see you're not completely zoned out. It's at Megakat Pines shopping center."  
  
"Great.either a macho jerk or a she-kat snob."  
  
The pair hopped into their rather beaten-up old tow truck and Chance began the drive towards the shopping plaza where they would likely find an arrogant yuppie that was too stubborn to admit that they knew exactly zilch about cars.  
  
"So what's the name on the call, Jake?"  
  
"Uh, let's see," Jake said, flipping back from the rate sheet to the tow form, "Lyonia Bengale."  
  
"Great. She-kat snob," Chance muttered, scratching his ears through his dirty, backwards baseball cap. She'd likely be offended at the very sight of Chance and Jake.  
  
"What'd you say, Chance," Jake asked, still looking over the problem description. "Car 'sploded.. Weirdest description of a problem I ever heard in my life. She should probably get a medal for least technical description in history. ''sploded'"  
  
_____  
  
Professor Hackle hobbled his way downstairs towards the dim glow of the monitors in his basement laboratory. It wasn't often these days that anyone called on him, even old friends and colleagues, so when Judge Mephistos called on his private line and asked him to update his old Megakat City Seismology report, he was only too glad to help. It made him feel useful, and feeling useful was something that Professor Hackle knew very little these days, especially with the many fiascos that his Metallikat creations caused.  
  
Alexander Mephistos had been one of Hackle's students back in the days when he had taught at Megakat University as a side job to his work at Pumadyne. He was not entirely certain why the Judge wanted the seismological information, but he had always been a curious sort, interested in the most remote details of certain sciences, and a student was always something the professor welcomed, whether new or old.  
  
Stepping into his laboratory, however, the professor immediately noticed something wrong. The computer he had been using to compile the seismic report was glowing, though he had turned the monitor off when he left it to its work. Someone had been there. Suddenly, he heard a hissing noise from a bookshelf behind him, and, as he turned, a small pinkish creature leaped at him, clinging to his chest and clawing at his face. The force of its impact knocked the elderly kat to the floor. Two more creatures skittered out from underneath nearby tables and held the professor down to the ground.  
  
The kindly old kat had never encountered these creatures before, but he knew what they were, thanks to the television news. Creeplings. And where there were Creeplings, there was...  
  
"Dark Kat," gasped the professor.  
  
"Professor Hackle, I presume" replied the booming voice of Dark Kat. A hideous purple face stared downward at him. "I believe you have been working on something that would be of great use to me."  
  
"I will not help someone like you. I swore I would never again allow my research to be used to harm katkind."  
  
"Oh, I think you will, Professor," Dark Kat replied, laughing, "For now, we're going to go see an old friend of yours. He'll be enlisted for my little project as well. And if he refuses, I'm sure your invention will help him to understand."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Lyonia stood outside her car at the shopping mall parking lot, fuming. She was scheduled to do a presentation of a new graphics layout before the newest clients of the firm, and her car picked today of all days to decide to completely cease to function.  
  
"You stupid piece of kitty litter garbage!" She yelled at the car, kicking it sharply on the tire, "You just had to quit working today of all days. I hate machines."  
  
She sighed. She would be much better off if she did not let herself get too excited. This was exactly the reason she had left a backup of her presentation with another person in the office, who would be her replacement in case of something like this. She was nothing if not cautious. Having extremely bad luck would do that to a kat. She groaned as she looked at the time. Where were those stupid tow truck drivers?  
  
Lyonia didn't even want to think about them. She knew their type. Greasy, unkempt, surly, smelly males with an education level barely rivaling a sixth grade dropout. It was the last type of kat she wanted to deal with, especially today. To make matters worse, it was this type of kat who inevitably tried to hit on her and referred to her as 'sweet thang' and 'sugar pie'. She ran a hand through her long blonde hair and sighed. What a day, and the drivers hadn't even shown up yet. She almost, in one way, hoped that they wouldn't.  
  
As much as she didn't like to admit it, she knew nothing about cars. She recalled a joke she'd heard once from a standup comic.  
  
"Well, did you check the alternator?"  
  
"Yeah..looked like it was full..and so."  
  
"Hey, Charlie! Call my wife and tell her we're goin' to Hawaii this year!"  
  
It was a joke that, at this moment, did not make Lyonia feel any better about her situation. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to learn. Uncle Tobias had tried to teach her on several occasions, but the she-kat just didn't have the knack for it. She should have let him look the car over like he had suggested before she drove it this far into the city. But all things considered, at least she had her trusty cell phone with her. Maybe if the tow truck drivers didn't show up, she could just take a taxi and go to work, and maybe save her bonus from certain doom.  
  
________  
  
"That's the place, buddy, turn here," said Jake, pointing at the large shopping center sign.  
  
Chance turned the large pickup truck and slowly entered the Megakat Pines shopping center parking lot. It wasn't hard to spot the car in question. White smoke was pouring out from underneath the hood of an old model MKM.  
  
"Yep..I'd say "'sploded" is a good way to describe that car," Chance said, blinking. How did a person destroy a vehicle like that?  
  
Jake just stared. "Where's the owner? I can't see for the cloud"  
  
"I dunno, Jake, maybe we should just pull up next to it like usual then worry about finding the owner. It'll be our luck that someone will pull up and park in our way if we find her first."  
  
Jake didn't offer any other alternative, so Chance turned the truck and backed up near to the car. As they stepped out of the tow truck, Jake's mouth dropped open.  
  
"Chance, do you know what this IS?" he exclaimed, awe and wonder filling his voice.  
  
"A 'sploded car," Chance replied sarcastically. Jake shot him a dirty look.  
  
"No." Jake replied, annoyed. "It's an MKM 1700 series Nightfire"  
  
"Wow. Maybe you shouldn't get too close, Jake. You might try to steal it and run away, never to be heard from again."  
  
"Aw, shut up, Chance." Jake said, obviously not paying attention to his partner anymore. He was just gaping at the beautiful old car in front of him. It had been the car of his dreams since he was old enough to know what cars were. But they were extraordinarily rare, though not exceedingly in demand. Jake still had the earliest drawings he'd ever done on engine design work, and they were all about how to modify, turbo charge, boost, and otherwise improve the Nightfire.  
  
"So are you two just going to stand there or are you going to tow my car?"  
  
The voice was icy, and sounded moderately annoyed. Chance mentally confirmed what he'd suspected about the kat they were about to help. She was a grade-A, number one, prime cut- his thoughts were cut short as he turned around - beautiful, drop-dead she-kat.  
  
"Uh..hi.." Chance said, stammering a bit, "I'm Chance Furlong and this is Jake Clawson"  
  
"Uh, yeah.ok. I'm Lyonia Bengale. Well, my car won't run, so unless you can fix it right here, just get me towed to a mechanic."  
  
Chance would normally have been ready to kill this she-kat, but something was strange about this one. She seemed oddly familiar to Chance. Normally he didn't take this kind of guff from anyone, male or female, and could get very rough if provoked. But in this case, that just wouldn't be wise.  
  
"Wise," he whispered, almost inaudibly. It clicked in his mind. He couldn't be sure, of course, but this kat seemed too much like Switch to be coincidence. He didn't want to believe that it was her. This kat was a serious snot. The beautiful, funny, charming Switch he'd met couldn't possibly act like that. But.he had to know.  
  
Chance's mind raced while Jake was hitching up the car to the tow hook. He was about to play a very dangerous game.  
  
"What did you say?" Lyonia questioned, the sharpness in her voice replaced by an irked curiosity.  
  
"Oh, uh.I said, it's a nice machine you've got there. I know a lot of hot shots who'd kill to get hold of one like it"  
  
A look of mortal terror crossed Lyonia's face for a brief second. This nasty.greasy.unkempt..laid-back tomcat had just used the same phrase that T-Bone had on the rooftop after the battle with the giant plant. It couldn't be him. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The T- Bone she had met and dreamed of was charming, handsome, and fiery. She thought for a moment.maybe this was the ultimate disguise for him.  
  
"Yeah.Tough to keep running though.I had a lot of help with it."  
  
It was her. She was playing word games back with Chance, trying to determine if he was in fact T-Bone, without giving herself away. Well, Chance's brain asked, what now? Are you going to just blurt out 'ok, you've got me, I'm T-Bone?' You're a doofus Chance Furlong. You know better than that. You'd better just bide your time.  
  
"Ahem," coughed Jake, breaking the awkward, staring silence that was passing between the two kats. "She's all hitched up. Uh, normally I would suggest a mechanic, but.uh.given the circumstances." Jake trailed off, but Chance was there to finish for him.  
  
"What he means is that he's an expert on this car, and would like the honor of fixing it himself," he said, smiling.  
  
There was definitely a twinkle in the kat's eye when he spoke to her now. And, as loathe as she was, at first, to admit it, there was something in his eyes... a kindness, and a firm determination. She had wanted to see the eyes behind the mask the moment she met T-Bone, and now that she had it made her feel weak in the knees. But how to react? Now Lyonia was learning the true difficulty in living a dual life. She had to decide just how close she could allow her own personality to drift towards that of her alter ego before it became decidedly unsafe.  
  
She shook at the thought. Did he really know she was Switch? And if so.would he turn her in to the Enforcers? She decided that she would simply play it safe.  
  
"Well.whatever..I guess you guys know best," Lyonia said dismissively, "I think I'm just going to catch a cab home."  
  
"Uh, wait.you don't have to do that. Jake and I could give you a ride home," said Chance quickly. Before he could insist, however, Jake stepped in. "Actually, buddy, we've got to get going. Remember we've got that appointment with Ms. Briggs?"  
  
"What appointm- oh..right.uh..well.I guess we'd better get going then. Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
"Yeah..fine." came the reply. Lyonia turned and walked inside the shopping center. The battery on her cell phone was dead, and she had to get away from these kats to clear her head.  
  
Jake and Chance climbed back into their tow truck and made their way back to the salvage yard. Chance was still running images of Lyonia and Switch through his mind. Jake, however, was not happy at all.  
  
"Chance, that was the most boneheaded thing you've ever done! I can't BELIEVE you'd put us at risk like that over a stupid crush!" He was yelling, something he rarely did when it came to his best friend and partner of many years. In all the time they'd ever spent together, Jake had never once seen Chance let anyone or anything endanger them or get in the way of their friendship.  
  
"What? Look, she saved our bacon with the giant plant, Jake, I know we can trust her!" Chance snarled. "You don't know a thing about her!"  
  
"And neither do you! She could be working for Dr. Viper, or the Pastmaster, or Feral, or anyone else in the whole world. You just want her to be trustworthy because you're lonely!"  
  
Chance slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel as the pair reached the salvage yard entrance. He shut the cab door with a loud bang and headed for the yard office.  
  
"I tell ya what, buddy, since you're the expert on everything, you can go ahead and fix her car. If you need me for anything I'll be in the reflex room." There was an attempt at sarcasm and venom in his words, but it sounded hollow, almost forced. As if Chance were forcing himself to appear angry rather than hurt.  
  
Jake folded his ears back. He shouldn't have been so hard on Chance; it was just that he took the whole secret identity thing very seriously. If Feral, or anyone or that matter, found out the true identities of the SWAT Kats, they'd be finished and likely wind up in jail for a good number of years. He sighed and pulled out his mechanic's creeper. After he fixed Miss Bengale's car, he'd try to make peace with Chance. For now, though, he decided it was best if he just stayed away. He'd done enough damage for today.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Lyonia didn't say a word during the whole car trip home with Uncle Tobias. She just couldn't get that meeting out of her head. She had learned a valuable lesson about what it's truly like to be a vigilante, and a sudden pang of loneliness hit her. Was this what a life of crime fighting and adventure had to offer as a fringe benefit? If so, she didn't care for it one bit. It was just so frustrating. She hadn't realized just how much trouble it would be to maintain two separate personalities to avoid arousing suspicion.  
  
And then, it hit Lyonia just how risky it must have been for T-Bone- or Chance, as she now felt she could think of him - to offer up such thinly veiled hints as to his identity. It was also likely why his partner had dragged him away, in order to keep him from opening his mouth too wide and letting the bugs in.  
  
Uncle Tobias was blissfully unaware of her chance meeting with T- Bone, but the old kat was neither blind nor stupid. He could see that something was bothering his niece. But, for his part, he did not say anything to indicate that he noticed. Some things, he felt, had to be worked out on one's own. He turned the car into the carport beside his old farmhouse, and the two kats walked inside, Lyonia still lost in thought, and Tobias affirming his vow not to interfere too much in her private matters.  
  
Stepping inside the farmhouse, Tobias was met with a surprise. There in his dimly lit, ill-furnished den stood his old-time colleague, Professor Hackle. The old doctor was leaning heavily on his cane, and the soft light of the room cast dark shadows over his face.  
  
"Hackle?" Tobias said in wondered amazement, "How've you been old friend? It's been ages!"  
  
Hackle did not seem to return Tobias's exuberance at the meeting. He seemed unusually sad, for such a kind kat. "My old friend," he said, "Please..forgive me."  
  
"Forgive you? Whatever fo-" Tobias was cut off in mid sentence by an assault of creeplings, coming from everywhere and binding the elderly kat's hands and legs.  
  
From behind, Lyonia screamed with rage and fell upon the creeplings kicking and hurling them across the room and fighting to keep them away from her uncle. "How could you?" She shrieked at Hackle, who lowered his head slightly, "I thought you and my uncle were friends!"  
  
"Oh, I assure you, my dear, this is not of his doing," came a thundering voice from behind, sounding amused. The she-kat spun around and found herself face to face with a huge, monstrous kat. His skin had no discernable fur, and was a deep shade of purple, his skull-like face accentuated by glowing orange lights where his eyes should be. He wore a black, hooded cloak with a dark crimson edging, beneath which was a grey robe, the likes of which Lyonia had never seen. The massive Kat's cloak was held together by a chain that extended to a shield plate on his left shoulder that displayed a stylized letter 'D', and he held onto a lacquered black cane by its golden handle. On one hand were a ruby and a diamond ring of considerable size. Lyonia knew who it was, without question. Megakat City's number one most wanted criminal. It was none other than Dark Kat.  
  
"I have no business with you, she-kat. Leave now and you will not be harmed," Dark Kat thundered.  
  
"Like hell I will," She snarled, dropping into a martial arts stance.  
  
"Then like hell it shall be," Dark Kat replied, laughing. He quickly drew back his huge hand and brought it sideways at Lyonia. The force of the backhanded blow threw her into the wood and plaster wall, leaving a massive crack as she slid unconscious to the floor.  
  
"Lyonia! No," Yelled Tobias from the floor. But this was the last thing he saw or spoke before a blow fell upon his head, and everything blacked out.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Back at the SWAT Kats hangar, T-Bone was tearing through the reflex room faster than he ever had. He'd turned the difficulty level up to ten, and was still handing it a tough time. Most kats, when they were upset, did not handle challenges as well as they normally did. T-Bone was one of the unique ones who merely got better the angrier or more upset he got. The reflex room was his way of working off his frustrations, and today it was getting quite a workout.  
  
It wasn't really that he was angry with Jake, far from it. But he also wasn't accustomed to Jake getting angry with him. It was a real shock to the system, and so he was trying to work it off without hostility towards his partner. One of the Metallikat cut-outs flipped forward behind him, and in one smooth motion, he spun around and punched it, breaking a hole straight through the plywood head. To either side, Dark Kat and Dr. Viper flipped upward. T-Bone ripped the Dr. Viper out of its mechanism and hurled it at Dark Kat, breaking the mastermind's image in half.  
  
The lights in the darkened city-simulator flashed on as T-Bone, now breathing heavily, strode towards the exit. It was a record number of points, and now that he was feeling better, he would go and rib Jake about it.  
  
___  
  
Lyonia scrambled downstairs as soon as Dark Kat and his winged Creeplings were out the door. She leaped into her jumpsuit and mask and boarded the Wildkat, intent on making Dark Kat's victory a short lived one. Firing up the engines, she accelerated and the jet shot out of its hiding place beneath the old barn on the edge of the property. She was in luck, for once. Dark Kat had just taken off and she had him square in her sights.  
  
The villain's craft was a long red and black jet with a delta wing, meaning that instead of the wings facing the rear of the plane, they faced the nose. It was so large, that Lyonia, now in her Switch disguise, couldn't see any way that Dark Kat would escape her. The Wildkat was a marvel of speed, maneuverability, and above all, firepower.  
  
"Take it down, Dark Kat, or I'll drop you right here," she snarled into the communicator.  
  
"My dear interfering vigilante, this was a private matter. However, since you have expressed an interest," Dark Kat's transmitted voice trailed off as four missile launchers rose from the skin of his jet and fired their payloads directly at the Wildkat's nose.  
  
Switch rolled the craft and pulled back on the stick, banking hard to avoid the explosive projectiles. Unfortunately they smashed into several buildings behind her, causing massive damage and, she realized with a sick feeling, massive loss of life. Dark Kat had no regard for Megakat City or its citizens. And Switch, Lyonia Bengale, was playing right into his hands. The white eyes of her mask narrowed with rage as she returned fire, using electromagnetic pulse generator missiles, an idea she had gotten from watching the SWAT Kats on the news and intended to completely disable any electronic device, including Dark Kat's jet, without causing collateral damage.  
  
The EMP missiles ricocheted off of Dark Kat's energy shield, and fell harmlessly to the rooftops below. In the dark it was nearly impossible to follow Dark Kat's movements, except by the path of destruction he was leaving in his wake.  
  
"Attention vigilante! Set down and surrender immediately. You are under arrest. The Enforcers will handle Dark Kat!" said an enforcer pilot over the radio.  
  
"Not a chance in the nine hells," Switch growled, "Dark Kat is MINE!"  
  
The villain's jet swung in a wide arc and came back around firing a pair of miniguns at the Wildkat and three grouped Enforcer choppers. Only Switch's jet was able to avoid the shots in time. The Enforcers' helicopters exploded violently.  
  
"This is Feral," the Enforcer commander growled into the radio in his car, "Get me more chopper backup, and scramble the jets."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
The alarm sounded in the Swat Kats hangar, a signal that Calico Briggs, Deputy Mayor of Megakat City, needed their help. Chance was already by the phone, having just left the Reflex room, and so was the Swat Kat who responded.  
  
"Yes Ms. Briggs."  
  
"T-Bone, you and Razor had better get downtown fast," said Callie over the communicator. Her voice was serious, but always retained a certain charming quality. "Dark Kat is on a rampage, and he's being followed by that new pilot from the other day. There's a lot of damage done already to the city..a lot of innocent kats killed.Megakat City needs you guys."  
  
"We're on our way, Ms. Briggs," Chance responded before hanging up the phone. Jake had entered the hangar in the meantime.  
  
"What is it, Chance?" he questioned.  
  
"Switch is taking on Dark Kat.there's a lot of collateral damage to the city. Callie wants us there to try and take care of the situation as best we can."  
  
"Switch!? Oh, boy.Roger that. Chance.I'm sorry about."  
  
"Hey, Jake, don't worry about it, ok? Things happen. Right now we really need to concentrate, or Dark Kat will have us for breakfast."  
  
With a wry grin, the two mechanics-turned-vigilantes were dressed in flight suits and leaping into the Turbokat's cockpit. The jet lowered on the hydraulic piston into the subterranean runway, where T-Bone opened the throttle to the maximum, sending the black jet rocketing down the shaft and then skyward towards the city.  
  
_______  
Switch fired a volley of minigun flechettes at Dark Kat, whose energy shield merely deflected them into an Enforcers recruitment billboard, cracking it in several places. Dark Kat returned fire, striking the Wildkat lightly on the right wing. This caused a bit of turbulence, which Switch immediately corrected for.  
  
"I warn you, vigilante, I will not miss with my next shot."  
  
"And I warn you, Dark Crud," Crackled T-Bone's voice, "Be nice to the lady or I'll tear you limb from limb."  
  
"Swat Kats! Why can I not get a moment's peace," Growled the villain in his cockpit, then reactivating his comm signal, "You will leave now, or you will taste my wrath, as will my passenger!"  
  
"Passenger? You mean hostage," snapped Razor.  
  
"Be that as it may, Dr. Tobias Bengale will die if you do not cease your pursuit!"  
  
"Tobias Bengale." said T-Bone, turning his head toward Razor, "You don't think he's related to-"  
  
"You Bastard! I'll have your tail on a silver platter," Switch roared, banking the Wildkat sideways and blowing past the Turbokat as though it was sitting still. The white eyes of her mask narrowed to slits, Switch no longer cared what damage the city took, she would wipe Dark Kat from the face of the planet forever. Her trembling hand gripped the control stick tightly as her index finger hovered over the weapons trigger.  
  
"Switch, Back off!" T-Bone called, "You're too close, he could fry you!"  
  
"No way, Skywise," Switch whispered hoarsely back, "He's mine."  
  
"Switch, I'm telling you, back off, it's too dangerous!"  
  
And so it was. Switch's plane, at that exact instant, was clipped by one of Dark Kat's missiles. Luckily, it did not detonate, merely threw the Wildkat off course. She struggled to regain control, and felt the air catch beneath the craft's wings, creating a heavy drag. She fell behind the Swat Kats, hissing and cursing at her infernal luck. The Turbokat fell in behind Dark Kat and fired a scrambler missile.  
  
"Bingo!" shouted Razor as the force shield around Dark Kat's hideous jet flickered and then faded away, leaving the black and red hull exposed.  
  
"Swat Kats, this is Feral! I order you to stand down. You are endangering the life of Dark Kat's hostage!"  
  
"Commander, you know as well as we do that Dark Kat won't harm him, he's got a particular reason for going after Dr. Bengale," T-Bone growled in reply.  
  
"I'll have your tails for this, you reckless, insubordinate, unprincipl-"  
  
T-Bone flipped off Feral's comm channel. He didn't need to be bothered by the Enforcer Commander's ridiculous babbling.  
  
"T-Bone look out!" Razor cried.  
  
Dark Kat had fired another missile while the Swat Kats had been dealing with Commander Feral. And this one, no matter what, was going to find its mark. The vigilantes closed their eyes as the missile hit the bottom of the Turbokat's fuselage. The Turbokat erupted in flames, the system panels lighting up with every type of malfunction possible. "Razor, we gotta eject now!" T-Bone cried.  
  
But Razor did not respond. T-Bone chanced a quick glance behind him, only to see that Razor's seat had been blown clear of the Turbokat already. Not wasting any more time, T-Bone pulled vainly on the stick, trying to save his jet. His eyes filled with tears. Yes, it was only a compilation of metal and electronics, but it was something that Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson had built together, in the ultimate act of friendship.  
  
Someone must have smiled down on T-Bone, for he was able to gain enough control of the crippled Turbokat to keep it in the air and find a landing spot. The VTOL thrusters were in perfect working order, miraculously, though the rear thrusters were nearly useless.. T-Bone scanned the rooftops below, finally spotting Razor. He descended in his wounded chariot and set down on the rooftop, leapt from the cockpit and headed towards his partner.  
  
"Razor!" cried T-Bone as he ran towards the smoking wreckage of his partner's Ejektor Seat. Dark Kat's missile had really done a number on the hover chair, not to mention the Turbokat, but T-Bone could care less right now if the Turbokat were impounded by the Enforcers, melted down, and stamped into commemorative coins for Mayor Manx's reelection. His partner was down.  
  
T-Bone looked down through the smoke and sparks emitting from the destroyed hover chair and saw Razor's limp, nearly lifeless form still strapped securely into his seat. Reaching down, T-Bone cut loose the safety belts with his claws. He lifted Razor from underneath the arms and pulled him away from the wreckage.  
  
Razor wasn't looking good. The hard landing on the roof had caused some severe lacerations and cuts. Blood oozed slowly from several tears in the SWAT Kat's flight suit. His tail was bent at an odd angle. T-Bone knew without touching it that it was broken. T-Bone looked over his partner, and with a start realized that he was still breathing.  
  
"Oh thank you," he whispered to whatever divine powers existed. "Razor, come on, buddy, wake up..." he said, patting the smaller Kat on the face. Razor didn't move. "Buddy, we gotta get outta here before Feral figures out what happened to us and decides to lock us up."  
  
Still nothing.  
  
"Razor..." T-Bone rasped, choking back tears. The pilot rarely cried, it just wasn't in his tough guy nature. "Jake.....come on....please....You gotta wake up." The tears flowed freely now down the SWAT Kat's face from beneath his helmet and mask.  
  
"Switch....come in...." He whispered into his communicator, hoping she was monitoring the frequencies.  
  
"Switch here, go ahead T-Bone," she replied as her HUD locked on to Dark Kat's engines.  
  
"Can you give us a lift out of here...I gotta.....get Razor to a doctor..."  
  
Switch, in her jet, gasped for air. She didn't know what to do besides go to them. She'd always thought the SWAT Kats to be sort of invincible, but now that illusion was shattered, and now she would have to help them pick up the pieces. She had to put her personal vendettas aside. After all, it was a blind anger towards Dark Kat which had led her to put the Swat Kats in this situation.  
  
"R.roger that.T-Bone." In the midst of the transmission from T-Bone, Switch had lost sight of Dark Kat, and by connection, Uncle Tobias as well. She began to sob heavily. Everything had gone horribly wrong. It wasn't supposed to be this way.  
  
"Where are you going to take him," Switch asked as T-Bone lay Razor down in the Wildkat's bomb bays.  
  
"I got a doctor friend who owes me a few favors. He works at one of the free clinics on the East Side. I need you to get me there," T-Bone said, calming himself. His mask's eyes narrowed in anger at the sight of his partner.  
  
Both vigilantes were silent during the trip. T-Bone directed Switch to land near the Heathcliffe Memorial medical clinic. The building was a cracked, crumbling brick and plaster structure in the middle of what could be described as a slum only if one wanted to insult slums. The rising sun cast an eerie, long shadow along the empty, litter strewn street, reflecting off the light fog.  
  
"Wait here," T-Bone said flatly. There was no emotion in his tone. Switch's eyes stung as she watched him carry the limp form of his partner inside the building. It was one of those sights that would always stick with the person who saw it, like a group of firefighters raising a flag over the smoking wreckage of a building destroyed in an attack by someone just like Dark Kat. When T-Bone was safely inside the building and out of sight, Switch buried her face in her gloved hands, her blonde hair cascading down around her covered visage.  
  
Inside the building, T-Bone lay Razor on an examination cot, and pulled the curtain quickly as he removed his partner's flight suit, mask, and harness, slipping them into a duffel bag.  
  
"T-Bone?" called a voice from the supply closet. "I thought I recognized that blue jumpsuit. What's wrong, got another case of tennis elbo-"  
  
The doctor was in his mid-forties, tall, and very thin. His brown hair was slightly unkempt and streaked with grey, and his face was wrinkled far beyond his years with worry and the strain of operating a clinic such as this with little in the way of government funding. Callie was always lobbying for extra funding for cases like his, and sometimes it did help. But today, the doctor had another concern, the casualty that the Swat Kat had just brought to his clinic.  
  
"What happened? You don't usually bring in the casualties yourself."  
  
"Dark Kat..shot down some debris and knocked the Turbokat towards the ground. I clipped this guy with my wing trying to get airborne again.I didn't know where else to take him, Jerry."  
  
"Ok, big guy, ok. I'll look him over..keep him here until he comes to. I'll give you a call on the citizens band if his condition changes."  
  
"Thanks, Jerry." T-Bone said. It was so difficult to maintain an air of stoicism when Jake Clawson was laying unconscious on the table, and T- Bone had just had concocted the greatest lie of his vigilante career.  
  
The Swat Kat did not wait around for more conversation lest he give something away that didn't need to be known. He broke into a quick trot and in an instant was back outside and climbing back into the Wildkat. Switch didn't turn around as she closed the canopy. It was a bit uncomfortable in the cockpit, as the plane was not designed for two people except in cases of extreme emergency.  
  
"What do we do now, T-Bone?"  
  
"Take me back to the Turbokat. I'll limp it back to my hangar and start repairs.as best I can anyway. You take a look around the city, and see if you can't track down Dark Kat. If you can't.then bring your jet to the Megakat Salvage Yard.signal me and I'll guide you in." T-Bone felt like a traitor. Jake would have wrung Chance's neck for even thinking about letting a strange jet, not to mention a strange vigilante, into their hangar.  
  
Unfortunately for T-Bone, he had no options left at this point. It was either trust Switch, or go it alone, and T-Bone didn't want to have to fight alone and risk failure. For him to fail now would likely put an end to the Swat Kats as a whole. Even if Jake woke up, he wouldn't likely carry on without his partner.  
  
"Roger that, T-Bone," replied Switch softly, "There's the Turbokat. Ready to go?"  
  
"As I'll ever be. Set her down."  
  
Switch lowered the jet to the rooftop, and T-Bone boarded his own damaged craft. In one swift motion, he engaged the VTOL thrusters, and began to guide his jet back to base on its one operable engine, which only gave him 35% power. He had to keep the vertical thrusters operating just to keep airborne. The sky along T-Bone's route was, for some reason, unusually clear of Enforcer traffic. The emergency frequencies bore out that most of the helicopters were involved in a heavy search for Dark Kat  
  
"You'll never find them, Feral. You're just wasting your time" thought T-Bone as he reached the salvage yard and the access tunnel slid open.  
  
Switch, however, found it very difficult to dodge the Enforcer patrols. She had to try and keep out of sight in order to see what she could find out about Dark Kat, and about her uncle. After three passes over the city, however, Switch gave up. There was just too much Enforcer flak to be able to follow any trail Dark Kat might have left.  
  
When she had been a little girl, Lyonia had wanted to be an astronaut with MASA. Maybe if she'd studied harder in math and science, she'd have been able to do that. Instead, her creative side led her to graphic design, but that adventurous side always remained. So, when her uncle, Tobias Bengale, eminent scientist and weapons designer for Pumadyne Labs offered her the chance to test out a few of his inventions, and help the Enforcers(not to mention the Swat Kats) protect the city, Lyonia had leaped at the opportunity. And now she knew what she was really risking. The days of showboating for the Swat Kats and taking her missions lightly were behind her.  
  
As Switch and the Wildkat approached the Salvage Yard coordinates T- Bone had given her, she wondered, "Is this the difference between me and the Swat Kats? Is it that I just don't get it?" She stared at the distant clouds in thought. Did she place too much emphasis on the by-products of successful missions, that is, the joking, the stunt flying, and the pilot competition? It wasn't those things that made the Swat Kats successful, she realized. Those things came from being successful. There were no jokes from the Swat Kats when Viper's giant plant had held the Turbokat and prepared to crush it like an egg, and there were no wisecracks from T-Bone when Dark Kat's missile had crippled his jet.  
  
"Switch, come in," crackled T-Bone's voice.  
  
"I'm here," she replied, shaking off her contemplations.  
  
"I see you. From where you are, dive at the large clear space surrounded by the scrap bins."  
  
"What do you mean, dive?"  
  
"Just what I said, Switch. Do it."  
  
For a moment, and only a moment, Switch considered the possibility that T-Bone might be trying to get back at her for Razor's injuries. But quickly she forced the stick forward, banking the Wildkat straight at the ground. Her heart raced as the dusty surface of the salvage yard drew closer and closer, until, at the last second, just as she was nervously closing one eye and turning her head, the ground slid away and she was flying downward into a launch tunnel which descended for a short distance and then turned horizontal.  
  
"Ok, drop your landing gear and slow her down, Switch. You're almost at the end."  
  
The she-kat activated the necessary controls and the jet slowed and lowered onto the landing gear. At the end of the tunnel, Switch saw a light growing larger and larger, until shortly the Wildkat passed out of the dimly lit tunnel and into the light. Switch glanced quickly around. Through the Plexiglas canopy she could see only a round, concrete chamber, void of any sort of furniture or signage. Great, what was she supposed to do now?  
  
Her question, like so many she had previously thought of, was answered almost immediately. She had a sensation of a motor starting up, and then she was being lowered via hydraulic lift. The lift slowed to a stop, and Switch became the first kat ever to lay eyes on the secret lair of the legendary Swat Kats. She was struck immediately by the dissimilarity between the Swat Kats' base and her own.  
  
"Distinctly male," she thought with amusement. Whereas her own hangar was neat, uncluttered, and had very little in the way of cracks or discoloration. The Swat Kats' base was just the opposite. The she-kat vigilante climbed down from her cockpit and was immediately greeted by a stern, serious looking T-Bone. He was still dressed in his flight suit and harness, but without the helmet, revealing that his mask was tied completely over the head like a bandanna. He stood there, arms folded and glanced over at the Turbokat.  
  
"I can't get her working on my own. I need your help," he said, a hint of desperation in his voice.  
  
Why this? Why couldn't he ask her to do something simple, like find the Holy Grail? She was no mechanic and she was no engineer. She should just back out now, tell him the truth. Yes, that would be the best option.  
  
"I'll do my best. What do you want me to do," she asked.  
  
"Grab a set of electrical tools and start checking the weapons systems."  
  
Switch nodded. This was at least something. She had a bit of experience in this area. She looked to a nearby tool chest and searched out the circuit analyzer she would need. IroniCallie enough, for the disheveled appearance of the hangar, Razor kept his toolbox very well organized and the drawers properly labeled.  
  
"Ok, T-Bone, ready to get started," she said with a slight smile. She reached up to pull the mask from her face. It had become quite uncomfortable and itched a bit. T-Bone's hand caught her by the wrist almost immediately.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked, his tone unreadable.  
  
Switch was startled. "I was.I was just."  
  
"Masks on, Switch. Always. We've both got to maintain our concentration. We both have our jobs to do, and we can't do them if we're too busy thinking about our dual identities."  
  
The alarm picked that time to begin buzzing.  
"Aw, crud, not now," T-Bone growled before picking up the receiver and pressing the receive button.  
  
"Yes, Miss Briggs?"  
  
"T-Bone, are you and Razor ok?" Callie Briggs asked, her voice filled with concern.  
  
"Razor.was injured. He's.he's ok, but." The tears were welling up in the Swat Kat's eyes again. But he couldn't let either Switch or Callie know. "He's gonna be out of action for a few days."  
  
"It may be just as well. Feral's after your heads, and I mean literally. The Enforcers have orders that if there's an option of arrest targets, you and that other vigilante are to be given priority. Dark Kat's escape did an unprecedented amount of damage to the city, not to mention to the Enforcers. Feral has never been this upset."  
  
"Roger that, Miss Briggs," T-Bone replied, "But Switch and I will be here a while anyway, trying to get the Turbokat airborne."  
  
"Good luck, T-Bone. I'll update you if anything new turns up on Dark Kat."  
  
"T-Bone out." T-Bone ended the conversation and turned towards Switch. "We've got our work cut out for us, so let's get to it."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Tobias Bengale's eyes slowly worked their way open. He was lying on his back on a metal table, with the bright lights of an operating room hanging overhead. The elderly kat tried to move, but found himself securely strapped down. His head hurt like hell, and it wasn't helped by the thundering voice of Dark Kat.  
  
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Professor."  
  
"Whatever you want, Dark Kat, I'm not going to help you with it," the scientist croaked. His mouth was very dry all of a sudden.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't count on that. Your old colleague has a wonderful new treatment that will help you change your mind," Dark Kat said with a laugh. "Now, Hackle. Administer the nanoinjection."  
  
"Nanoinjection?" thought Tobias, "He can't be serious. Hackle's nanites can't be used for this kind of purpose."  
  
"I am sorry, Tobias. All my work ever amounts to is destruction," whispered Hackle as Tobias felt a sharp needle jab into his arm.  
  
"Soon everything will be so much clearer to you, Professor Bengale," thundered Dark Kat as Tobias's vision began to blur.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
"I tell you, Callay, this is just terrible," said Mayor Manx, drawing out Callie's name as his accent always dictated. He paced the floor of his lavish office in the tower of Megakat City Hall. "Dark Kat's escaped, and not only that but he's got Professor Bengale as his hostage. I can't even take a short trip to the golf course with that criminal at large!"  
  
"Mayor Manx, how can you think of golfing at a time like this," the Deputy Mayor yelled.  
  
Manx just yawned. "Callay, if Dark Kat does show his face, the Swat Kats and Commander Feral will take care of the problem. Absolutely nothing to worry about."  
  
"I'll give you nothing to worry about you.you.." Callie Briggs couldn't even finish that sentence. "There's a chance that the Swat Kats won't be able to help us this time." She sighed. This whole series of events was a nightmare.  
"TH..th..that's impossible, Callay.. We can't rely on Commander Feral to stop Dark Kat! We've got to get out of here! No.no wait. Dark Kat's out there somewhere..I'll.I'll just hide out here.You're in charge, Callay."  
  
And with those words, Mayor Manx had taken refuge under the solid oak desk where so many of the decisions that affected the lives of the citizens of Megakat City were never made. Manx had, in truth, not done a scrap of paperwork or decision making in years, and it was only through the administrative abilities of Calico Briggs that he was even able to find his own office. Callie Briggs fumed as she stormed out of the Mayor's office and down the hall to her own. Straightening her pink business suit, the Deputy Mayor stared at the phone. All it would take would be a phone call to Feral under the Mayor's authority to redirect the Enforcers away from the Swat Kats and the new kid on the block.what was his name? Switch? Megakat City seemed to attract all manner of costumed villains, not to mention masked heroes. Callie had yet to determine if Switch was a threat to the city or not, but T-Bone trusted him, and that was enough for her.  
  
Her only problem was that if she used the Mayor's influence in this manner too often, Feral would likely become suspicious or immune to it, and that would severely inhibit her ability to both rely on and help protect the Swat Kats.  
  
"Steele," she said into the receiver, "Get me Commander Feral.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ms. Briggs," said Steele with his typical condescending tone. "He won't be back on duty till 0800 hours tomorrow. Uh, that's 8:00 AM for you civilian folk. He left specific orders that he was not to be disturbed during his interview with Anne Gora."  
  
Callie slammed the receiver down hard, hoping against hope that she would leave Lt. Commander Steele's ears ringing. There was nothing to do until tomorrow. Hopefully she would have time to straighten Feral's tail out.  
  
____  
  
Hackle looked out mournfully from the barred cage where Dark Kat had placed him. The room he was in was lit by torchlight, which cast long, spidery shadows across the ancient stone of the floor and walls. In the center of the floor, between Hackle's cage and what appeared to be Dark Kat's control console, was a circle carved in the stone, surrounded by several arcane-looking runes. Hackle wasn't at all sure where he was being held, only that it was under the control of a maniac. A maniac who had decided, at that moment, to return with his Creepling lackeys.  
  
"Well, Professor, I trust you are finding your new accommodations comfortable?" laughed Dark Kat. The pink-skinned creeplings chattered and climbed about the room, laughing at the elderly kat in the cage.  
  
"Dark Kat, I'm giving you one last chance. My invention was intended to help detect and reduce the severity of seismic activity. It was never intended to be a weapon!"  
  
"Oh spare me your pathetic desires to 'help katkind'. I could care less about your pacifist wishes. I have what I need to wipe Megakat City out of existence, and I will not be stopped. Not by the Swat Kats, not by their new accomplice, and certainly not by you" Dark Kat pointed a scornful finger. "Besides, I have an interview to prepare for. Since you, my dear professor, will never be leaving this place, I think it's time you saw the true face of evil."  
  
Dark Kat stepped inside the carved circle in the floor. It must have just been the firelight, but Hackle thought he saw the runes on the edges flicker and glow as Dark Kat stepped into the circle. Then, Hackle heard Dark Kat mutter something in a language he was not familiar with. Quickly, almost panicked, Creeplings leaped in all directions, most of them climbing the walls and clinging to the bottom of the torches. They seemed to be posing, waiting for something.  
  
An earsplitting squeal accompanied what appeared to be bolts of bright red electrical energy radiating from Dark Kat and extending out in all directions. The professor had to shield his eyes from the sheer brightness of the glowing bubble of energy which completely engulfed Dark Kat and obscured him from view. Hackle thought it quite curious that the energy bubble only seemed to extend to the edge of the carved circle.  
As the red glow faded, Dark Kat had vanished, and in his place stood a kat of somewhat less menacing stature. The Creeplings were no longer anywhere to be found. Instead, grotesque stone figures adorned the torches and walls of the chamber. The black and red garments of the supervillian were replaced by a dark grey suit of fine imported Silk. The kat who wore it was brown furred, but streaked with grey. As Hackle stared, wide-eyed, the mystery kat turned on his heel, smiling darkly. It was Judge Mephistos.  
  
"Alexander..you.you are Dark Kat?"  
  
The judge began to laugh, a sound that echoed through the chamber and pierced Professor Hackle's very soul. "Yes, my dear Professor Hackle. I'm afraid you've never been a very good judge of character. First your employment at Pumadyne Labs, then your disgraceful choice of personalities for your prototype android bodies, the Metallikats, and now your fruitful working relationship with Dark Kat. I'm afraid, Professor, that no matter how hard you try, your sins will never be erased. You..are no better than I," Mephistos said with another laugh. "I'm afraid I have an interview to take care of now, but I'll leave you in the quality care of my newest associate."  
  
An eye, glowing red, appeared in the darkest corner of the chamber. A metal clinking could be heard as the owner of that eye stepped forward into the light. Hackle clutched his chest and fell to his knees, resting his head against the bars of the cage while the Judge laughed uncontrollably.  
  
__  
  
T-Bone raised the welding mask from his face and rolled out from underneath the Turbokat's fuselage. . Somehow, miraculously, Dark Kat's missile had managed to miss most of the Turbokat's critical systems. Switch had proven to be quite helpful in refitting the gunner's seat. She had protested, saying that she was no mechanic, that she would only cause more problems. As T-Bone had run systems diagnostics one at a time, it became clear that she was a lot better than she herself realized. It had only taken most of the night to complete the system repairs. It was a record for speed repairs that even he and Razor had never managed, and the Swat Kat was grinning to prove it.  
  
"Switch, I'm finished here. How are things looking in the cockpit?"  
  
Switch rose above the edge of the canopy, narrowed the eyes of her mask and blew upwards, knocking a strand of hair out of her face. "I think I'm doing ok. I've got all the little thingies reconnected, but I don't know if any of them are going to work properly."  
  
T-Bone just smiled. It was really amazing how certain people could be that they were doing things wrong. "Well, I think she's about ready to get back in the air. But," he paused to yawn, "there's no way I'm in any shape to fly tonight. Let's check out the Kat's Eye News, they might have some info on Dark Crud."  
  
He sat up and climbed off of the rolling creeper he had been using to rest on while underneath the Turbokat's damaged fuselage. Resting it in a corner, he reached for the remote control to the large television monitor that rested a few feet off the floor in the corner. Razor had rebuilt it when a wealthy industrial mogul had had some of his old trash taken to the salvage yard. It was 72" in width and had a flat LCD display, not to mention several digital features that made it not only an entertainment appliance to the Swat Kats, but also a useful tool in spotting minute details that were inevitably to be found in the backgrounds of newscasts.  
  
Switch made her way over as T-Bone switched on the television, just in time for a Kat's Eye News special report.  
  
"This is Anne Gora, Kat's Eye News, reporting the latest information on Dark Kat's latest rampage through Megakat City. According to Enforcer Commander Ulysses Feral, the Swat Kats are responsible for almost as much of the devastation as Dark Kat. Here with us now is Commander Feral. Commander, what proof do you have of these allegations against the Swat Kats?" Anne Gora was known to be sympathetic to the Swat Kats, especially since they had saved her tail on multiple occasions, and she was obviously hoping to find the inevitable flaws in Feral's accusations.  
  
Switch growled. "How dare he? You weren't responsible for any of that damage."  
  
"Don't pay too much attention to Feral," replied T-Bone. "He's had a burr in his tail over us since the day we set paw in Megakat City. We'll catch Dark Kat," he said, pausing, then added, "Or take him out completely. Then Feral will just grumble for a few days and everything will go back to normal."  
  
Switch was about to say something else in protest, but fell silent when Feral started to speak.  
  
"Anne, I've been saying for years just how dangerous the Swat Kats are. This video is just more proof of what I've been saying the whole time." The screen cut to a home video showing Dark Kat's jet firing its missiles at Switch, who immediately returned fire and missed, her missiles slamming into a nearby building, which appeared abandoned. The rubble began to fall, and in a cloud of dust, and amidst the shaking of the camera holder's hands, one could barely make out pedestrians on the street below, running for their lives. A few of them almost didn't make it.  
  
"But Commander Feral, the jet shown firing those missiles is not the Swat Kats' trademark Turbokat. Surely you can't intend to blame-"  
  
"Maybe it isn't the Turbokat, but look at this video taken from an Enforcer chopper."  
  
It was video of T-Bone boarding the Wildkat after loading Razor aboard.  
  
"I rest my case, Anne." Feral said with a very slight upturning of the lips, revealing a smug satisfaction.  
  
"Things certainly look grim for the Swat Kats. Next up, his Honor, Judge Alexander Mephistos, responds to Commander Feral's statement."  
  
______________  
  
T-Bone flipped the power off on the television and threw the remote in the floor next to it. "Like I said." he began, "Don't pay much attention to Feral. He's not worth worrying about."  
  
"I caused that, T-Bone.I caused it.." Switch buried her masked face in her hands. "I'm no better than Dark Kat."  
  
T-Bone put one muscular arm over Switch's shoulder, and she leaned against him, sniffling. "Don't ever think that, Switch. We're vigilantes. What we do is.by definition.illegal. But at the end of the day, we keep on going because in the end we have to believe we do more good than harm."  
  
"But how can you go on believing that.when you can look and see the aftermath?"  
  
"It's like a very dear friend of mine once said, Switch. Down these mean skies, a kat must fly." T-Bone felt like he was an old man imparting great wisdom for some reason. It was a strange feeling. "We use only the force necessary to bring down a greater threat."  
  
Switch had closed her eyes, and T-Bone realized that she was asleep. He laid his head against hers and, after a few minutes, was drifting off to sleep himself.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Your Honor, " said Anne Gora, "What is your response to Commander Feral's implication of the Swat Kats in Dark Kat's latest rampage of destruction?"  
  
"I am in agreement with the Commander that the Swat Kats are dangerous," said the judge in his usual forceful tone. "What I question, Anne, is the Commander's competence, as well as his assessment of the damages that can be blamed on the Swat Kats."  
  
"His assessment?" Anne repeated, puzzled. She tilted her head to one side, her brown hair moving uniformly, as though it were determined to stay in place. Feral was staring at Mephistos as though he could fire heat rays from his eyes.  
  
"Yes, Anne. I feel that the Commander does not understand that the Swat Kats are responsible for all the damage done to the city!" exclaimed the greying jurist.  
  
"How did you come to that conclusion, your Honor?" Anne snapped, beginning to lose her journalist's cool.  
  
"It's quite simple. If it weren't for the Swat Kats pursuing him, Dark Kat might have left the city unscathed. The Swat Kats are the public menace, not Dark Kat. These so-called 'supervillians' exist to answer their challenge. If it weren't for them, Megakat City would be a much safer place. "  
  
Anne gave the cameraman the signal to cut to commercial break. "You're crazy, Judge." She growled. "The Swat Kats have saved countless lives, including my own. I won't be a party to this slander."  
  
"Say what you will, Ms. Gora. But as of tomorrow morning I am issuing a bench warrant for the arrest of any and all costumed vigilantes in Megakat City. The days of the Swat Kats are over."  
  
Mephistos smiled smugly as he left the news set. With recent events unfolding as they had, the Swat Kats were finished. And if Feral didn't cooperate, he would see the end of his career, and his life.  
  
"Congratulations, Judge," said a gruff voice from behind Mephistos. "You've managed to turn all of Megakat City's law-enforcement into a laughingstock." The judge just smiled wider and turned, staring eye to eye with none other than Commander Feral.  
  
"I think you managed that a long time ago, Commander. I trust you and your Enforcers will carry out my warrants?"  
  
"Why you." Feral started to lose his temper, but halted himself. The judge was looking for a reason to be rid of him, and it would be a felony for him not to serve a legally issued arrest warrant. "Yes..Of course..Your.Honor." Feral forced the last words out and quickly turned and stormed out the door before he crushed something expensive. Behind him, Mephistos forcibly restrained a laugh.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
"With all due respect, Ms. Briggs, I don't think you fully understand the dangers of allowing such reckless vigilantes-" replied Commander Feral stiffly into his telephone. It wasn't bad enough that he had had to put up with that gargoyle of a judge, Alexander Mephistos, now he was catching flak from City Hall, trying to force him to do exactly the opposite of what the Judge was trying to do.  
  
"And I don't care if I understand properly or not, Feral," said an exasperated Callie Briggs, "I have the full authority of City Hall behind me on this one. Your priority target is Dark Kat, not the Swat Kats."  
  
"Now see here, Deputy Mayor, I've been on the force for over twenty years. I think I understand how to do my job, and there is a judicial arrest warrant for all costumed vigilantes," the Commander growled. Before he could continue his thought, however, the window of his office darkened. ".Ms. Briggs..consider the priority reassigned."  
  
The skies over Megakat City had suddenly been dominated by a gigantic craft which, judging by its stylized markings, could only belong to Dark Kat himself. It was pinkish red with black markings that resembled a demon's face on the nose.  
  
"Steele, deploy all available jets and choppers. I want to be prepared for whatever it is that Dark Kat is about to hit us with. I'll be in the air myself just as soon as I take care of some loose ends."  
  
"Uh.loose ends.sir," Steele questioned, a bit of a whimper in his tone. The Lieutenant Commander was a true coward, and Mayor Manx's nephew. Feral supposed that the trait ran in the family.  
  
"Yes, Lieutenant. I'm going to collect the honorable Judge Mephistos and show him without a doubt what kind of evil Dark Kat represents." Now Mephistos would see just how much of a threat Dark Kat really was.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Citizens of Megakat City," Dark Kat's projected holographic image boomed, "I assume I need no introduction. The time of your pathetic city is over! From this day forward, Megakat City shall be known as Dark Kat City." The holographic image laughed horribly before continuing to speak. "Megakat City lies on a class 2 fault line," he laughed, "Dare to oppose me, and I will shake this city to its very foundations!"  
  
The holographic images disappeared, and in the streets the people were running for their lives. They knew that Dark Kat was more than willing to destroy every kat in Megakat City to get what he wanted, and they were afraid. This time they were afraid that even their saviors, the mighty Swat Kats, would not be able to save them from Dark Kat. The sound of breaking glass could be heard all over the city, for as panicked kats abandoned their homes and shops, the looting began. Kats were using bricks, pipes, pieces of wood, anything they could get hold of, to smash in store windows. The Enforcer officers who formed the Megakat Police division tried in vain to hold off the stampede of frightened citizens, but were quickly swept away by the sheer force of the moving crowd.  
  
It was in this scene of panic that Commander Feral drove towards the Judge's mansion. He yelled into the microphone in his personal command car, vainly trying to hearten his men as me passed. This entire city was about to go down the tubes, either from Dark Kat's assault or simply from pure terror. For the first time in his life, Ulysses Feral looked skyward, hoping against hope that the Swat Kats would arrive.  
  
He pulled up outside the gates of Alexander Mephistos's ominous, brooding mansion. The whole place looked like it belonged in a horror film. It was three stories tall and designed in a sort of neo-Gothic fashion, complete with spires and a few pictorial stained glass windows. Its fencing was topped with sharpened spikes, as though he actually expected an attack. Though with his manner, he probably should, Feral thought. The Enforcer Commander pressed the buzzer. No answer. He tried again, still to no avail.  
  
"You can have me arrested later, Judge.but I don't have all day to wait for you to decide to poke your slimy head out of your mansion," Feral muttered as he raised his pistol and fired a bullet through the electronic locking mechanism. The gate creaked loudly as its lock fell away and it opened wide. Commander Feral holstered his gun and strode quickly to the house's main door, which was adorned with door knockers in the shape of twisted, screaming, demon-like kat faces. It, too, was locked, and since Feral got no answer when he knocked on the heavy wood, he kicked it in.  
  
Entering the building, he found himself in a darkened foyer, the floor where he stood tiled in black and white and covered with expensive looking red carpeting. Feral had never before been inside the mansion, so he had no idea where to look for the Judge. He might not even be here. Feral walked the corridors for what seemed like hours, though in reality it was only a matter of a few minutes. He could find no rooms with lights on, and there was no trace of any house servants, which was odd given a house of this size and grandeur. The whole place seemed to be done in expensive woods and marble, with wonderful pieces of statuary and artwork adorning each and every room. It almost made Feral want to be a judge, just for the sheer sake of self-indulgence and hedonistic delight.  
  
"I give up," Feral mumbled to himself. He'd spent too much time here looking for the judge when he should be with his men in the air. He leaned against the side of a large, marble fireplace to think for a moment, trying to decide on a strategy for taking out Dark Kat, when he felt a sharp, cold breeze on his back. He turned and found that it was coming from an unsealed crack between the wall and the fireplace.  
  
"Well well.does the honorable judge have a secret to hide?" Feral thought with amusement. It would please him no end to be able to put that self-righteous scumbag behind bars. Feral slid his fingers into the crack and on a pure hunch, pulled on the fireplace. Sure enough, it gave way and pulled aside on a hinge, revealing the gaping black maw of a dark, hidden passageway behind. Feral drew his pistol again. He didn't know why, really, but maybe it was because his instincts were telling him that something extremely dangerous lay in the darkness below.  
  
The shallow stone steps seemed to go on forever, until Feral spotted the blue glow of a large computer monitor on a wall console at the end of the tunnel. There he would find his answers. Feral's eyes had adjusted well to the darkness, but the light from the console destroyed most of that night vision. He thought he saw shapes moving in the shadows around him, but reassured himself that he was only seeing tricks of light. A hissing, chittering sound arose from all around him. Feral knew the sound, but before he could put his finger on it, something grabbed him and threw him to the ground. He fired a shot at random into the darkness, but hit nothing. All the shot got him was a brief illumination of small, winged, gargoyle-like creatures.  
  
"Creeplings!" he exclaimed as he tried to fight his way to his feet. He ran back towards the staircase, but was set upon by several of the small minions of Dark Kat and knocked to the ground again. This time, his head hit the cold stone of the floor and he fell unconscious. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
Back in the skies, the Enforcers had every available helicopter in the air blocking the path of Dark Kat's ship. Of all the unlikely kats to be in active command, Steele had taken charge and was holding fast to prevent Dark Kat from moving any farther over the city. "This is Enforcer Command. Dark Kat, you must turn back immediately. We will not allow you to harm this city or its people!"  
  
Inside his control room, Dark Kat burst into a fit of laughter. These Enforcers suffered from some sort of delusions of grandeur if they thought that they had the power necessary to stop him. He reached up and flipped on his holographic projection.  
  
"Fools. I was more than willing to assume control of this city without the cost of a single life, but you imbeciles refused my order to stand down. Now I will give you a taste of my seismic dominator."  
  
The undercarriage of the large, flat-bottomed aircraft slid away, and what appeared to be some sort of satellite transmitter lowered outward on a hinged arm. The Enforcer helicopters barely had time to move out of the way before it leveled itself at the center of the city and fired. A bright orange energy beam emitted from the dish at the end of the weapon, and pierced the ground, stopping after only a few seconds. A moment passed. Time stretched on. Seconds seemed like minutes to Lieutenant Commander Steele. Maybe he was in luck and Dark Kat's weapon had misfired, or malfunctioned, or maybe just broken.  
  
It was a pity that he was wrong. Almost as soon as he had decided that Dark Kat was bluffing, the buildings around the helicopters began to tremble, then the ground itself split apart straight down the middle of the central street. The fissure continued to grow and grow, passing out of the city and into the suburbs. Steele just stared, ears folded back in frustration. There wasn't much he could do. He really wished that Commander Feral would get back. Huge shards of rock shot upward out of the street, making the city look more like a jagged canyon than a thriving metropolis.  
  
If anyone had been at home now at the Bengale farm, they would have seen the cracking of the earth straight underneath the barn and stopping just short of the farmhouse itself.  
  
At City Hall, Callie Briggs pressed the button on her communicator. Breathing heavily, she prayed that the Swat Kats would answer. With all her heart she hoped that Razor was ok, and that the city would be safe soon. ______  
  
T-Bone awoke first at the sound of Callie's alarm and the shaking of his hangar, a result of years of conditioning towards quick response. Switch yawned sleepily as she found that her pillow had gotten up to answer the communicator. She heard T-Bone's muffled voice speaking into the phone receiver, but couldn't quite make out what was happening. All she caught were his final words.  
  
"We're on it, Ms. Briggs. Be careful."  
  
"T-Bone? Wha-"  
  
"Let's get moving, Switch. I'll leave the hangar first in the Turbokat, you follow in the Wildkat. Just keep the Wildkat at full throttle. You won't see daylight until the very last minute, but it's a straight upward shot."  
  
She leaped into her cockpit and snapped on her restraint harness, flipping the switches that would activate the Wildkat's engines. The restored Turbokat roared and launched itself out of the hangar, back under the full control of its rightful pilot, and not under the direction of explosions of Dark Kat's missiles. Switch followed him out, and within seconds the pair of jets was streaking through the Megakat City skies towards Dark Kat's immense engine of destruction.  
  
"Whoa! Look at the size of that thing," T-Bone gasped. "Dark Kat's really serious this time!"  
  
"Yeah, well so am I. No more Ms. Nice Kitty. When I find him, Dark Kat is going to be Dead Kat."  
  
T-Bone, flying in the lead, winced at Switch's words. An attitude like that could get a kat killed in a situation like this. He tried to think of something to say, but words failed him. Everything he could respond with sounded uncaring, or else like sanctimonious gutter crud. He did not want to encourage Switch in that line of thinking, but he also had to be careful, for he did need her help with Razor out of action.  
  
"Just be careful," he told her, completely dodging the issue. "I've never seen anything that could cause earthquakes; I don't even want to think about that ray hitting one of our jets..There he is! Let's hit it!"  
  
The two jets streaked through the air, weaving among the tall buildings of Megakat City's financial district and leaving white vapor trails that resembled a long white snake winding its path through a field of tall grass. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Have you had any luck reaching Commander Feral?"  
  
"None whatsoever, Deputy Mayor," Steele replied into his radio. "But I do know that we can't risk another blast from that..that thing hitting the city. I'm ordering a full assault on the earthquake beam's gun pod. Hopefully..it'll be enough."  
  
Every fiber in Calico Briggs's being screamed that such an attack was a mistake. Dark Kat had proven in the past that he was far too intelligent not to have anticipated this move. But now, with more lives in jeopardy than ever before, what choice was there? The Deputy Mayor looked down at Mayor Manx who lay shivering under his desk, then out the large window at the coming battle.  
  
"Very well, Lieutenant," she said with a resigned sigh, "Be careful..and.Godspeed."  
  
Steele switched his radio frequency back to Enforcer standard command. With a trembling hand, he raised the microphone.  
  
"This is Steele. All Enforcer helicopters, fire at will. At all costs, we must stop the earthquake beam."  
  
__________________  
  
"Your city's heroes have finally arrived, Professors. I do hope you'll enjoy the show as I obliterate them along with your precious Megakat City," Dark Kat laughed viciously. Professor Hackle looked up from the floor of the cage where he had been thrown. His face was bloody and bruised, his tan and grey fur matted with multiple layers of caked blood. Hackle's left eye was swollen shut.  
  
He tried to speak, but found himself unable to manage more than a rasping sound. Above him, in the darkened room, he saw a pair of red eyes glowing. A kat was silhouetted against the view screen, staring at him, crimson eyes narrowed.  
  
_______________  
  
A part of the top of Dark Kat's ship slid away, revealing a launch bay. T-Bone stared for a moment, before waves of combat drones, each one colored similarly to Dark Kat's ship, flew outward and towards the Turbokat and Wildkat. It was clear to T-Bone that they weren't a welcoming committee.  
  
"Stay frosty, Switch, we got bogeys at twelve."  
  
"Roger that." Switch had a determined grin on her face. She knew in her heart that nothing would stop her this time. These planes were nothing but an annoyance, a minor obstacle to her reaching her real target. Dark Kat would fall today. That much she was sure of.  
  
The first wave of attackers reached firing range and a volley of yellow laser fire extended outward from them. T-Bone and Switch rolled their jets in opposite directions, each one releasing a salvo of missiles at their assailants. The sound of explosions and metal striking concrete confirmed that the missiles had hit their mark. T-Bone looked down. He had been right, the first wave had gone down in flames.  
  
"Yeeehaw! Way to go, Switch, keep it up!"  
  
Switch smiled again. Was this what it was about? Was this what it was like? Her trembling, gloved hands squeezed the triggers again, this time opening fire with the Wildkat's machineguns. Another two drone jets began smoking and losing altitude.  
  
"T-Bone, watch out! You got one dead on your six!"  
  
The white eyes of T-Bone's mask widened as he looked down at the radar screen. Switch was right. FrantiCallie, he tried a series of loops and rolls to evade his pursuer. A beeping alert from the radar told him that he had failed miserably. The display panel illuminated the words 'missile lock'. T-Bone waited for the explosion to rock his jet and send him to meet his maker. He saw, as if in slow motion, that only a few of each wave of attackers was heading for himself or Switch. Funny, never was like Dark Kat to spare a few laser blasts.  
  
The explosion finally hit, however, it seemed to be muffled. It was farther away. It took Chance a moment to realize that there were now two more blips on his radar screen behind him, and that the one which had been on his tail had vanished.  
  
"Swat Kats, this is Enforcer Lieutenant Commander Steele..."  
  
"Aw great, what do you want? 'Stand down, the Enforcers can handle this'? Yeah yeah, we know the drill. And you know by now that we ain't goin' nowhere."  
  
"Actually," the voice continued, "We are here to assist."  
  
"You?" T-Bone's head was reeling.  
  
"You seem to be the best hope for Megakat City now... I'm sure even Commander Feral would agree. Our direct assault didn't even pierce Dark Kat's shields. The only way in is through that launch bay.and nothing the Enforcers have is fast enough or nimble enough to dodge both the drones and Dark Kat's own guns."  
  
Chance Furlong smiled again. This was turning into a pretty good day.  
"Alright, Commander, you take out those drones. Switch and I are gonna take down Dark Kat, once and for all."  
  
"Confirmed, Swat Kats. Good luck." ___________-  
  
The Enforcers wasted no time. A formation of jets, backed up by helicopter and anti-aircraft fire, tore through Dark Kat's drones as if they were tinfoil. The sky was lit by yellow and blue laser blasts crisscrossed the skies as the Enforcers, always second-fiddle to the Swat Kats' heroics, made their valiant stand.  
  
"Kats alive..they're still coming," exclaimed T-Bone. It had now become apparent that the Enforcers, while able to stem the tide, were unable to stop the flow of robotic attackers. Still more drones were swarming out of the massive launch bay.  
  
"Well, there's no time like the present, Skywise. Let's head in," crackled Switch's voice over the radio. Without waiting for T-Bone's approval, the Wildkat's thrusters were at maximum, and Switch was doing the most amazing array of aerial acrobatics that T-Bone had ever seen. She dodged the last few drones with mere inches to spare, her jet disappearing into the black maw of Dark Kat's massive aircraft. T-Bone, still awestruck, followed as best he could, and touched down in Dark Kat's now empty launch bay just in time to see a missile from the Wildkat explode against the reinforced steel inner wall, creating an opening into the bowels of the ship.  
  
T-Bone leaped from the cockpit, his glovatrix strapped securely on his left forearm. Switch was already on deck, her own borrowed glovatrix reflecting the soft fluorescent light of the panels lining the walls.  
  
"You sure you know how to work that thing," asked T-Bone, with only a mild seriousness in his tone. He already knew the answer, of course. Nothing about Switch surprised him at this point. He only hoped that Razor would wake up soon enough to see her in action again.  
  
The pit of his stomach knotted up at the thought. Of course Razor would wake up. He had to.  
  
Switch smiled and winked in reply to his question. "You kidding? I have most of your file footage from Kat's eye News on DVD. 'SWAT Kats, the Unauthorized Biography'. You should pick up a copy sometime."  
  
T-Bone chanced a grin. "You know, I just might."  
  
He looked into the corridor beyond the blasted wall. Dark Kat definitely lived up to his name. The ship was constructed of a metal that was the darkest shade of grey that T-Bone had ever seen. "Twisted psycho," he thought bitterly. The corridor, however, was completely empty.  
  
"Watch yourself, Switch. It's way too quiet for Dark Kat."  
  
As T-Bone had just said the cue phrase for bad things to happen, it came as no surprise to him when a shrill shriek split the air in the hallway, not to mention his eardrums. A Creepling! The SWAT Kat spun on his heel, raising his gauntlet into position, only to witness the pink-skinned flying monstrosity burst into a pile of red and pink sludge that splattered on the walls and floor. T-Bone felt his stomach lurch at the sight. It was worse than one of Jake's culinary disasters. To his right, Switch was nonchalantly blowing the smoke away from her gauntlet's barrel.  
  
"Alright.I'm impressed."  
  
_____________-  
  
Dark Kat sat engrossed in the targeting of the Enforcers who were so pathetiCallie attempting to stand against his might. The weapons system reticle flashed green. Another helicopter exploded. Did they truly think they stood any chance whatsoever? Even the SWAT Kats barely managed to put a scratch in his vessel. And they were his most challenging opponents. This time, he knew, they would be the ones to taste defeat. He thought of how he would celebrate his conquest once this battle was complete.  
  
Dark Kat's triumph was dulled by the sound of an explosion in front of him. The reinforced blast doors leading from the bridge blew inward, clattering to the floor in a twisted heap.  
  
"What!?" the supervillian cried. No one should have been able to get this far without his creeplings sounding the alarm.  
  
"Knock knock, Dark Crud." A female voice spat from the smoking wreckage of the doorway.  
  
As the haze cleared, Dark Kat could see one of the Swat Kats, and a new face. She seemed, somehow familiar, and then it struck him. It was the niece of his current prisoner, the one who had opposed him at the professor's farmhouse. This thought gave him back his air of confidence.  
  
"Well well, I was hoping you would show up to try to spoil my plans."  
  
"Oh I'll always turn up, Dark Kat, I'm like a bad penny," T-Bone said, grinning.  
  
Dark Kat laughed. "I was speaking, of course, to the lady, Swat Kat. I'm sure Ms. Bengale would like to see her Uncle. Wouldn't you, my dear?" This remark caught T-Bone off guard. He frowned. What was Dark Kat playing at?  
  
"You sick Bastard, if you've hurt him I'll claw your face off." She was not screaming as she had before when she was chasing him through the skies of Megakat City. She was growling, the white eyes of her mask narrowed into slits as she raised her glovatrix to point directly up at Dark Kat, who was seated in a sort of throne above the rest of the large chamber.  
  
"Oh, if I were you I wouldn't worry about me hurting him. If I were you, I would be more worried about him hurting you." He broke into a fit of maniacal laughter, then  
  
"What the hell are you talking abou-"  
  
"Switch, look out!"  
  
T-Bone threw Switch aside and leaped away himself just as a pair of laser blasts struck where they had been standing. A few feet away was standing what looked like it was, at least at one time, a kat. It looked as though some sort of metallic creeper vine had wound its way into his flesh, twisting and turning through brown fur and beneath the skin. He raised his weapon. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be around long.  
  
"T-Bone, NO!" Switch screamed, throwing herself on his massive arm. An explosive blast missed its target by inches and blew a hole in the wall.  
  
"Are you crazy?! That thing-"  
  
"That thing.is my Uncle."  
  
Dark Kat was grinning. This fight was going to be very entertaining if neither vigilante was willing to harm the cybernetiCallie-enhanced Tobias Bengale. It seemed only fitting, somehow, that the other prisoners be allowed to watch. One flick of a switch, and a wall nearby was rotating, revealing a cage holding the beaten and bloody Professor Hackle and the unconscious form of none other than Commander Feral himself.  
  
"Switch," T-bone said, keeping his voice low as he watched Tobias carefully. "Do you think you can handle him?"  
  
"Yes.I think so."  
  
"Then take care of him however you need to, and I'll take care of Dark Crud." T-Bone turned and fired one of Razor's mini-octopus missiles straight for Dark Kat's heart. It met with a sphere of blue energy and ricocheted back towards T-Bone, who had to leap sideways to avoid it.  
  
"You couldn't take care of a wounded kitten, Swat Kat, much less ME. Creeplings, seize him!"  
  
A group of the monstrous flying creeplings flew out from a sliding wall panel nearby and set upon T-Bone. With a growl, he set upon them and began to fight for his life. ____  
  
Switch had maneuvered herself into a corner. Uncle Tobias was intent on killing her. That was the thought that she just couldn't bear. How could Dark Kat have such control over her only family?  
  
"Uncle Tobias," she pleaded, tears streaming from beneath her mask. "Please, it's me. It's Lyonia!"  
  
His eyes, glowing red, flickered at the name.  
"Ly.Lyonia?" the cyborg questioned, tilting his head.  
  
"Yes.your niece! Please, Uncle, you have to remember."  
  
"Lyonia.Wh..what's going on?" His eyes stopped glowing. She had gotten through! However, the glow flickered back. He was having trouble fighting Dark Kat's mind control. She had to do something, something else had to give him the memory jogging to fight off the machinery.  
  
Of course!  
  
Quickly, Switch landed a kick to her uncle's chest. She felt her claws scrape metal as she bounced backward. It worked, and Tobias was knocked backward a few feet, giving Switch the room she needed. She darted past him and back into the corridor. The cyborg regained his footing and started after her, red eyes glowing murderously. ________  
  
T-Bone threw the last of the creeplings to the floor, where it fell unconscious. The Swat Kat, bleeding from several wounds, his uniform torn and ripped in several places, turned once again to face Dark Kat. His face wore an expression of utter disgust and rage, and, Dark Kat realized, a determination that would not be quelled.  
  
"Alright, Dark Kat. No more games. You're going to jail, permanently."  
  
"Am I indeed? I think not, Swat Kat. Surely you don't believe that you have a prayer against me. I am more than your match in physical strength, and I far exceed your meager intelligence. How can you hope to defeat me? I am darkness incarnate. I am the god of CHAOS!"  
  
"You're also toast." T-Bone fired a mini-missile from his glovatrix, but as before, it was deflected. This time it skipped across the energy field's surface and bounced into a series of control panels.  
  
"No! What have you done!?" Dark Kat screamed, pressing several buttons on his console. A spray of needles fired from the arms of his throne, sticking into the floor in front of T-Bone, who had leaped backward just in time. There was a slight hissing sound from the needles, and a light, acrid smoke rose from them. Poison or acid, or something equally nasty, T-Bone wagered. "You have destroyed my control mechanisms. This ship and everyone on it is doomed!"  
  
"Well, then, I guess we die together, Dark Crud," T-Bone growled.  
  
"Not on your life, Swat Kat, or at least not on the remaining ten minutes of it."  
  
As T-Bone watched, Dark Kat's throne began to lower into the floor. The Swat Kat raised his gauntlet to fire again.  
  
"No, T-Bone! Listen, you can catch Dark Kat later. If you get us out of here, we can help you find him again, for we know his true identity!" Professor Hackle, silent until now, yelled from his cage, distracting T- Bone from his shot. T-Bone was not about to let this opportunity escape, and turned again, only to find that the floor had sealed shut behind Dark Kat. T-Bone let out a furious growl before turning.  
  
There was nothing to do now but get the Professor and the unconscious Commander Feral out.  
  
"So, you know who Dark Kat is? Talk quick," T-Bone said, pulling out a cutting torch and burning through the lock of the cage.  
  
"Dark Kat masquerades himself to the public as Alexan- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" A surge of electrical energy poured through both the Professor and Feral. Hackle fell unconscious to the metallic floor with a clank. T-Bone, worried about how much time they had before the airship crashed into Megakat Bay, hoisted Feral onto one shoulder and Hackle onto the other, and began making his way back to the Turbokat, the floor beginning to shake beneath him.. He hoped with all his heart that Switch had followed the emergency plan.  
  
_________  
  
Switch leaped into the air, doing a split midway up to avoid her Uncle's metallic fist. Unfortunately for her, that meant that the fist plowed straight through one of the Wildkat's engines. She had been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to get her Uncle to respond again by using the Wildkat, but now she was simply trying to avoid his attacks. She didn't know what else to do. She hoped that T-Bone would get back soon, because it looked as though she would need his help getting out of here.  
  
As she ducked sideways to avoid another laser blast, a curious thing happened, an electrical surge tore through Tobias's body, causing him to cry out before passing out on the floor. Switched looked down at him, tears welling up in her eyes. He was clearly alive, at least for now.  
  
She scooped her uncle up in her arms, the metallic attachments making him much heavier than he should have been, and worked her way towards the Turbokat. She felt the ship lurching beneath her feet, and wondered if T- Bone had been successful. Her question was answered a moment later when he ran through the demolished doorway into the hangar.  
  
"Are you alright" they asked in unison.  
  
"I'm fine, but we gotta get moving," T-Bone replied, glancing about the hangar quickly.  
  
"Wildkat's.not gonna make it out of here, I don't think. I'll have to fly with you in the Turbokat."  
  
"Get in, we'll put these three in restraints in the bomb bay. They'll be safe long enough to get them down."  
  
A moment later, and T-Bone was firing up the engines of the Turbokat, Switch occupying the gunner's chair behind him. The VTOL thrusters operated perfectly, and the Turbokat was soon airborne again. T-Bone looked back at Dark Kat's airship, his eyes widening at the sight. It was going to crash into City Hall! T-Bone's mind raced, but there was nothing he could think of to stop what was about to happen.  
  
"T-Bone!"  
  
The voice was familiar. "Razor! You're ok!"  
  
"T-Bone, use the Guidance Missiles!"  
  
"Guidance Missiles?"  
  
"You say something, T-Bone?"  
  
T-Bone looked around, disoriented for a moment. "No..I was talking to Razor."  
  
"Razor? But.T-Bone, Razor's unconscious at the clinic."  
  
T-Bone blinked, afraid of what that could possibly mean. But he had heard Razor's voice as clear as day. And Razor had told him to use the Guidance Missiles, whatever those were. Razor was always working on new weapons and utility devices, it was his particular knack and one that T- Bone was always grateful for. He quickly brought up the auxiliary weapons control. Turboblades, Matchheads, Buzzsaw, Octopus.nothing said 'Guidance'. Wait, there was something. EX-311. That wasn't Razor's standard designation system. It meant it was an experimental weapon, one that Razor had not fully tested.  
  
T-Bone took a deep breath. This would work or it wouldn't. "Guide my hand, Razor. You're the Sureshot." He exhaled. "Missiles locked.deployed!"  
  
A pair of odd-looking missiles launched from the Turbokat and gripped onto the smoking hulk that was once Dark Kat's weapon of mass destruction. Thrusters on the missiles began to pull the craft, back from its descent until, as they finally ran out of thrust, the craft was over the fissure it had caused in the city. The missiles gave their last sputtering, and then they and Dark Kat's ship dropped into the chasm and out of sight.  
  
An explosion could be seen far down in the chasm, and then a bright orange light rose out and hit the side of the chasm. A moment passed as the vigilantes watched in wonder. Then the ground began to close around the airship, and in an instant the pavement looked as though someone had merely ridden a jackhammer up the street, instead of the Grand Canyon.  
  
"We got him, Switch.we got him."  
  
Switch was crying softly. "I know.but.why does it feel so empty?"  
  
"Sometimes it does.the main thing is to know that you've done some good. Come on, let's get Dr. Bengale to Megakat General. They've got a cybernetics team on standby."  
  
_______  
  
T-Bone lifted off in the Turbokat again after dropping off Professor Hackle and Commander Feral at Enforcer Headquarters. Switch had stayed behind at Megakat General to tend to her Uncle. He wondered if the experience had been too much for her, and if he'd be seeing her again, either as Switch or as Lyonia. He'd been so rough on her when she tried to remove her mask back at the salvage yard. He regretted it, now.  
  
The worst part of all was that neither Hackle nor Feral could remember Dark Kat's true identity. Whatever that electrical zap was must have been something of Dark Kat's doing. It had completely wiped out that portion of the kats' memories. T-Bone didn't know for sure if Dark Kat had escaped, but he wagered that he'd know soon enough.  
  
He touched the Turbokat down on the roof of the Heathcliffe Memorial Clinic, and used a rope ladder to climb down to the street. Now he would find out about his partner.  
  
"T-Bone!" Jerry said, smiling, "Back already. Well, I've got good news for you."  
  
"Good news?" T-Bone's eyes widened as he smiled hopefully.  
  
"That mechanic you hit is up and around. Been asking for his partner, Chance Furlong, but I haven't been able to get ahold of him on the phone. He's in the other room if you want to talk to him."  
  
Jake was standing by the window, looking out onto the empty street, now illuminated by the orange rays of the setting sun. His tail was in a cast and he had bandages around his arms and head, but he seemed to be doing well. T-Bone closed the door behind him with a creak, the sound of which caused Jake to turn. Upon seeing T-Bone, he grinned widely.  
  
"Uh, Mr. Clawson, I came to offer you a ride back to your salvage yard," T-Bone said in his stiffest 'deal-with-the-public' voice. __________  
  
Back at the Hangar, as soon as Jake stepped off the Turbokat's ladder, he was met by T-Bone in a firm embrace.  
"Jake, buddy, I thought I was gonna lose you!"  
  
"Nah, not me Chance. You know better than that. Besides, I needed the sleep."  
  
"I got your radio signal. I used the Guidance Missiles to stop Dark Kat's ship from hitting City Hall."  
  
"My.what?"  
  
"You called me on the radio and told me what to do!"  
  
Jake looked confused. "No..I didn't."  
  
Chance pulled off his helmet and mask, looking confusedly at Jake. He didn't know now what to think, but he knew he had a lot to tell his partner.  
  
"Well, it looks like you were right about Switch," said Razor. There was just a tad bit of disappointment in his tone, as if he had desperately wanted to be right.  
  
"Yeah.she turned out to be pretty good all around. She even was able to help put the Turbokat back together after you got blown out of it."  
  
"Please, Chance, don't mention that, it hurt like he- wait a minute, she was HERE, in OUR HANGAR!?" Jake exclaimed the last part in shock.  
  
"Relax, buddy. Everything's ok."  
  
Before Jake could form a reply, the reunion was interrupted by the television.  
  
"This is Anne Gora, Kat's Eye News. I am here, live, at the mansion of Alexander Mephistos, where the Judge himself has just been released from captivity. Apparently, he had been held hostage by Dark Kat since leaving t his station from his interview yesterday. Your Honor, your honor, could we have a statement please?"  
  
The camera followed Anne's movements as she walked over to the judge, who was sitting on an ambulance bumper sipping a hot drink of some sort.  
  
"It appears that I was mistaken in issuing an arrest warrant for the Swat Kats. I'm told if not for them, Dark Kat would have destroyed the city completely." His yellow eyes glinted darkly, as if he were suppressing some emotion. "Effective immediately, I will revoke that warrant."  
  
The judge appeared to be very upset, but no one seemed to notice that it was not shock, but a seething rage burning just below the surface.  
  
"Hey, Jake.I have an idea." __________  
Tobias Bengale sat in his beaten up easy chair reading an old book on psychology he'd found tucked away in his bookshelves. Dark Kat's cybernetic implants had been removed successfully, but the experience of the machinery pushing his elderly body past any and all limits had taken its toll. He would now be forced to walk using a cane for the rest of his days.  
  
He bore no malice towards Professor Hackle. It was not Hackle's fault that what happened happened. But Dark Kat was another matter. Somehow, he would find a way to repay both his niece and the Swat Kats for saving him from that life of servitude and soulless evil. He just wished he could remember who Dark Kat really was.  
  
A knock split the silence of the room. Who would come to visit at this late an hour. Tobias slipped his pistol into the pocket of his robe and got up to see for himself. With a creak, the door opened wide.  
  
"You!" ___________  
  
A month passed by, and Lyonia followed her usual civilian routine. She took no joy in her graphic design work whatsoever. How could she, when she had ridden the wind and flown beside the Swat Kats? Now that life was over. She had thought of calling Chance several times, but she just couldn't bring herself to. And Uncle Tobias, despite having had the implants successfully removed, had been very busy, doing some sort of research work for some firm, and was nearly always gone.  
  
Her plane was destroyed. Her hangar was caved in. That's how she felt about her life, now. To her, Switch was the truth, and Lyonia just something she made up to fool the public.  
  
She sat alone in the den of her Uncle's farmhouse, eating a cinnamon roll and flipping through different channels on the TV. She stopped, something caught her attention.  
  
"This is Anne Gora, Kats Eye News, on the scene at City Hall, where Mayor Manx, Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs, and even Enforcer Commander Ulysses Feral are on hand to present the Swat Kats with medals, and special awards for service to the city."  
  
"Great.T-Bone probably doesn't even remember that I helped in that little affair. So much for that."  
  
She flipped the set off in disgust, just hoping that another earthquake would happen and swallow her whole.  
  
____  
  
Lyonia was next awakened by her Uncle shaking her lightly. "Lyonia, wake up, I've got a surprise for you."  
  
She pulled the cover back over her head and swatted halfheartedly at her Uncle. "Come now," he said, "Mustn't be late!"  
  
The next thing she knew, they were on the road, but before they had gotten very far, Tobias stopped the car and handed her a long piece of black cloth. "Put this over your eyes, this is a true surprise for you and I don't want you to see where we are going until we arrive."  
  
Her uncle had a flare for these sorts of dramatics, and she knew better than to argue. She pulled her blonde hair out of the way and tied the blindfold over her still hazy green eyes. She hoped that this would be good. Anything to lift her spirits. The City was faring well since the Earthquake beam attack. They had managed to fill in and seal the fissure, as well as rebuild many of the destroyed buildings nearby. She, however, felt like she no longer belonged in Megakat City. Even T-Bone had let her go now, now that his partner was back.  
  
Tobias led her out of the car. She smelled oil and old grease. She hoped Uncle Tobias hadn't brought her out to show her some car he'd bought for her. She heard a door open, and she was inside. Where were they?  
  
Yet another door, this time she was being led down stairs.  
  
"Can I take this off yet?"  
  
"Not yet, Lyonia.not yet."  
  
It was infuriating. But.something felt familiar. The air was cool, and there was a smell.petroleum.grease. She'd smelled that smell before. She opened her mouth to speak just as the blindfold was yanked from her face. She was standing in the Swat Kats' hangar. A place she had been firmly convinced she would never lay eyes on again. She was standing in a doorway into a whole second hangar that she was sure had never been there before. And inside.her heart did a complete flip and she let out a squeal of delight. The Wildkat! They.they had rebuilt the Wildkat. It sat in the hangar, shining in the fluorescent lighting that lined the walls. Standing beside it was Razor, Professor Hackle, and T-Bone. All of them were smiling at her.  
  
"Here, here is your surprise my dear. I promised that you would like it. Do you?" said Uncle Tobias, resting one hand on her shoulder.  
  
"This is what you've been doing? This.this is where you've been going all this time?"  
  
"Well, it was kinda our idea. T-Bone and I figured that since we got your jet blown up, the considerate thing would be to build you a new one. " Razor was grinning. He was obviously proud of this achievement.  
  
Lyonia hugged her uncle tightly, then ran to Hackle, then to Razor, and finally, to T-Bone. That hug seemed, however, to linger noticeably, because Razor cleared his throat and discreetly ushered the others out of the Wildkat's hangar.  
  
She turned away from T-Bone to look at the Wildkat. "You.did this for me." she whispered. "I thought.I thought that you'd forgotten about me, that I was just useful until Razor got better."  
  
She was crying now. "You were so cold that day when I started to take off my mask."  
  
T-Bone's heart wrenched at what she was saying. "I never meant it that way." He placed muscular hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. He reached up and pulled off his helmet and untied the bandanna which served as his mask. And finally, Lyonia saw in person the T-Bone she had wanted. The T-Bone that was also Chance Furlong. And she kissed him, not wanting to let go.  
  
After a few minutes, the pair walked out of the hangar, T-Bone once again fully masked. The others were trying to appear to act naturally. "We do have one more surprise for you."  
  
"What is it?" She asked, smiling up at T-Bone.  
  
"Well.A long time ago, Razor and I decided that the Swat Kats was a two-kat-only operation. We swore to each other that there would never be another member."  
  
Lyonia blinked. "What-"  
  
"What he's saying is, we can't make you a Swat Kat.but we would be honored if you'd wear our logo, and stand with us." Razor held out a folded jumpsuit, mask, helmet, and glovatrix. She slowly accepted it, then wasted no time in putting it on, mask included. It was like her other uniform. Razor had a good eye for details. But in addition to the standard red markings, there were two additional ones. On each shoulder was the Swat Kats logo this one in blue with three red slashes crossing it from the upper left. Her own personalized version.  
  
Everyone was staring, admiring her in her new gear. T-Bone and Razor, Hackle, and especially her Uncle all appeared very proud. And in truth, so was she. Lyonia smiled. She was finally where she wanted to be. And this had to be the beginning of more adventures. Especially with T-Bone by her side. 


End file.
